Blasting Light Pollution and a Right to Starlight

Due to our light pollution we can only see 150 out of 5000 stars with the naked eye today. To be able to view the sky "should be considered a fundamental socio-cultural and environmental right", according to the International Astronomical Union.

Life evolved between heaven and earth. Ancient civilisations observed constellations in the sky with their naked eye for eons. Stargazing took place in ancient Egypt, Mesoamerican civilizations, Aboriginal Australia , the Pacific and many other places. The observation of natural phenomena shaped human society, their knowledge and the landscape. Astronomy and technology developed further thanks to a dark and observable sky.

After 'the candle' and gas, electrification illuminated the industrial world in the 19th Century to work 'around the clock'. Rapid urbanisation followed at lightning speed. Aggregations of people blocked the universe out to get on with business. Networked mega cities glow 24/7, illuminating the Earth. Speeding navigation in the sky, on the waters or on the terrestial zones relies on artificial 'stars' that guide us through augmented reality. Bright billboards inform us of our desires while drifting through light tunnels. Dwellings are show cased by bright lights, announcing their presence to the universe, or prospective buyers.More (of the same) is always better, so it is with light. Perception and orientation function better with more watts. No one wants to be kept in the dark. The absence of light is more concerning than the end of energy and water on the planet. Dark is just so dark.

Ineffective lighting design and unnecessary illumination is wasting energy and water. Light pollution is also negatively affecting humans, flora and fauna.The legacy of a degraded sky is an irrevocable loss for living beings on earth. Future generations will be deprived of a social right of 'being in the universe' that all previous generations had enjoyed.

More on
Light Pollution, delicious
More on Light pollution, Mnly Blog

Images:
Milky Way, via Zeno
Vincent Willem van Gogh, The Cafe Terrace, 1888, via Zeno
Vincent Willem van Gogh, Starry Night over the Rhone, with gas lighting, 1888 via Zeno

Camels - Invasive Species in Australia and Aerial Shooting

The dromedary or Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius) was introduced in 1840 to the driest inhabited continent, Australia. As a beast of burden (images) it was to carry heavy loads and cross the dry and inhospitable lands. Their water-conserving abilities made them suitable as "draught and pack animals for exploration and construction of rail and telegraph lines; they were also used to supply goods to remote mines and settlements." Together with Muslim cameleers they pioneered inland routes of arid Australia from 1860s - 1930s.

The arrival of petrol powered motor vehicles in the 1920s made the work animal obsolete. Many were killed, but some escaped and prospered without predators. Today they are an invasive species in a desert ecosystem, constituting a threat to biodiversity.
Anthropogenic climate changes, permanent drought and increasing desertification are a stress for settlers, their stock, wildlife and feral animals. The camels are seeking the watering places where humans and their stock have settled. They are "tearing down fences and smashing troughs to get at water.""Camels are also an increasing hazard to motorists traversing outback roads."

They are to be culled in national parks and on pastoral leases. It will cost AS $19m to fire at them from helicopters, as was done in the aerial predator control programme shooting wolfs in the same way. Contraceptives are thought of as too ineffective as they would still have time to trample vegetation. Selling the meat in controlled harvest is also thought of as not feasible.

There is no doubt, invasive species have to be limited or eradicated from Australia, but is this method the most appropriate one?

Questions remain:
What is being done about live stock 'trampling' water courses and National Parks etc?
What is being done about epidemic populations of dogs and cats going feral?
What is being done about selling exotic flora and fauna?
What is being done about smuggling exotic flora and fauna?
What is being done about peak oil mobility in a desert environment?
What is being done about the many off-road vehicles in the 'outback', 'trampling' the landscape and biodiversity?

Camel season opens in Australia, The Great Beyond August 12, 2009

Update:
Another 60,000 feral camels from Central Australia will be culled through aerial shooting abc 05082010

Images:
Pisanello, Dromedary, 1425–1450 via Zeno
Camel, Abû Sa'îd 'Ubaydallâh ibn Bakhtîshû, Persian Master, 1297-1299, via Zeno