Back when I was a young tot, the wonders of the heavens, the
glorious Milky Way and the beautiful dark skies were only as far
away as my backyard on the corner of Washington and Hawkins streets
in Hollister.
Back when I was a young tot, the wonders of the heavens, the glorious Milky Way and the beautiful dark skies were only as far away as my backyard on the corner of Washington and Hawkins streets in Hollister. Well, not anymore. What has changed? The wonders of the heavens are still up there. The glorious Milky Way is still glowing. The problem is we just can’t view them from our city anymore. And why is that? Lights, lights and more lights. We have lights to see where we are going and looking, and lights, for some unknown reason, to light up the sky as well.
I’m not suggesting that night lighting is not needed. But just look around, we see waste lighting everywhere. Parking lots without any cars in them are flooded all night. Security lights pour into neighbor’s windows rather than over the targeted area. And most streetlights are so inefficient that as much as 30 percent or more of their output spreads horizontally, reaching only the eyes of distant drivers and any on-lookers out of the intended lighted area.
This doesn’t just pertain to streetlights, downtown businesses and billboard signs, but also this pertains to you and your home. Do your fixtures shine light into your neighbor’s window and toward the sky, or do they send all their light onto the ground where it is intended go? Can you see the bare bulbs from a distance, or are they shielded? Do you illuminate your house when no one is awake to admire it?
If you want to see an example of this over-lighting effect for yourself, just go to the top of Fremont Peak and look west, and then look south. What are those large billows of yellow lights? And where are they coming from? Looking west is the city of Salinas; it could sure use a light ordinance there. But most of that light is coming from the new businesses and car dealerships trying to let the world know, as well as other worlds it seems, that here we are.
And now looking south, there is another even more glamorous glow coming from Soledad prison. I guess they want to stop any prisoners from escaping straight up and out. Once again, a better lighting system is in order here. It could save the taxpayers a considerable amount of money each and every year. And then maybe when we go to the peak to observe the heavens we can do just that, observe the heavens, and not lights preventing us from doing so.
At the request of many astronomers, a few cities – notably Tucson, Ariz. and San Diego – have passed ordinances that require all outdoor lighting to be efficient.
But lets give some credit where it is deserved, and that is to our own San Benito County for enacting their own Dark Sky Ordinance. I was very pleased, along with others I’m sure, to see our own county step forward to make sure that we do all we can to try to preserve some of the heavens for our children in the future. Now we need to work on our city leaders to stop the large glow about Hollister. It is my understanding that the city will be including a Dark Sky Ordinance of its own in the up-and-coming Draft and Zoning Ordinance. But we can’t give up there. As soon as the city is back on its feet they will hear from others and me on this subject.
Most people are against change of any kind, whether it is for the good or bad. A new ordinance in Hollister most likely would not make it mandatory for everyone to have to change existing lighting, but would only pertain to new construction and upgrades. If all this was accomplished our dark skies might not come back the way it used to be on the corner of Washington and Hawkins streets, but at least it wouldn’t get any worse. Clear skies.
David Baumgartner is in local real estate and is an avid amateur astronomer. His Sky Watch column appears monthly.
