Turn out your lights !!

[Genxor]

Let's not go off on tangents.

Individual pet projects should not be brought forward in any form to a Community Development Plan or any other.

The issue that irrated me, obviously, was when an individual was singled out by name
in correspondence on a County Website.

While I do not know the individual whose home looks like San Quentin, is it appropriate to name this individual ? Single him out ? Come on.

Many discuss civil liberties in regards to Green Harvest or other federal / county /state regulations. But we as "Puna" wish to regulate the lighting individuals have on the outside of their homes, or driveway entrances ? How would that ever be enforced ?

My point is this, if all of the huge concerns Puna has were taken care of, sure let's talk about Light Pollution. But there are certainly larger environmental concerns, imo, than light pollution currently anyway.

Stick with some higher priorities, leave the personal pet projects for a later date.

[Ed Smay]

I have always wanted to have a nice telescope, but living in San Jose, it would not be worth it. I will wait till we live over there. Out neighbor here keeps her house lit like it was the White House!

"From knowledge comes understanding"

[malolo]

San Quentin? The White House? Yikes!
"The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades..."

Here's another really-cool easily-understandable article from the folks at Keck that you may wanna take a look at, Genxor.

http://www.keckobservatory.org/support/m...6dec_2.htm

[Kelena]

I think it would be a code enforcement issue. That doesn't mean enforcement would be easy. But in any given population you will, at least, have some people abiding by the rules and that is an improvement. The fixes for light pollution are pretty simple: Shield the lights and have lights pointing downward not upward. There could be a grandfathering issue.

It is best that the plan not identify any particular individual and not compare a house to a notorious prison if at all possible, but these things are put together by citizens (many or all of them volunteers), and sometimes they engage in a little hyperbole.

[Rob Tucker]

The records of the community input are complete. If that makes Genxor upset that is just too bad. If the record wasn't complete the complaint would be that someone's concerns were lost and ignored.

There was a guy somewhere up in Volcano whose input was that everyone moving into the district should pay him $10. It's in the community input record and stays there. Puna is what it is not what we want to pretend it to be.

Genxor has little to complain about and time on his hands if all he can find is the topic he presented. It frys me a bit to know of the thousands of community hours that are going into the PCDP and there is someone (always someone) who roots around and finds a picky complaint to make. If you want your complaint on the record send it in to the contact address at www.hawaiiislandplan.com. You won't get any blowback at that site.

[Big_Island]

Cmon friends...

We as a community have been trying to reduce ambient light levels on the Big Island and all of Hawai'i for many years.

Cant believe everyone doesnt know this...

Do the people who are new to the island just not know how important this issue is or they simply dont care??

Astronomers working in Hawai‘i have serious concerns regarding light pollution. Increasing ambient light levels in the night sky blurs the images that telescopes atop Mauna Kea are able to capture.

The solution to the problem of light pollution is relatively simple and readily available. Unshielded streetlights need to be replaced with fully-shielded, low-pressure sodium lights – which are the most energy efficient source of light currently available. Low-pressure sodium lights are in widespread use on Oahu and in some countries in Europe.
In many cases, low-pressure sodium lights cost less to operate than traditional light fixtures. Because these lights are monochromatic, their yellow-orange light can be filtered out by astronomers using colored filters. This is not possible for light from broad-spectrum lighting, which contains light of many different colors.

Many existing light fixtures on Hawai‘i Island are only partially shielded and therefore contribute to the problem.

Unshielded light fixtures have several drawbacks:
They waste light energy in the form of heat;
They direct light up into the sky rather than down on the ground;
They are less efficient than shielded lights;
They emit light pollution;
They can compromise public safety by emitting poorly directed light on roads and intersections – glare from these lights decreases visibility;
They detract from the visitor’s experience of dark skies;
They cost more money to operate than fully shileded lights;
They negatively impact endangered species;
They negatively impact public health by making our neighborhoods too bright to sleep; and
They negatively impact astronomical observatories by emitting unnecessary light pollution.




If we dont plan to address this issue in the (PCDP) then we can guarantee the loss of our Hawaii Asronomy Programs.
Which are Vastly considered to be the BEST in the WORLD.


Sincerly,
Beau S.

[bystander]

Hurray for the science of astronmy! It will keep this island from getting too developed. The science produced is invaluable, worth enough to block any new contruction if it comes to it.

[Bob Orts]

I believe that restricting lights and darkening the area will have a negative impact on inter-island migratory birds, therefore this is to serve notice that I will sue for an Environmental Impact Study to be conducted and paid for by the citizens of Hawaii County if any attempt is made to implement any light abatement that I believe will harm the environment. That I will request a federal injunction against implementing any light abatement until such time as an EIS is completed. That if an attempt is made to shoot out the lights, turn them off, or otherwise dim them so I can’t find the remote for my TV, prior to the EIS being officially completed, I will organize the Private Property Rights Coalition to block government access to my light switches.

[Carey]

Bob, you forgot to mention that the lighting ordinance discriminates on the basis of color....
There are a a number of resources on pollution caused by lights (again, wrote term papers...lots of stuff out there) & lighting, but this one NASA photo says volumes:
http://nightglow.gsfc.nasa.gov/states_night.html

[Dave M]

I would think that the cost per KW for electricty there would make this a no-brainer. The negativity is a great example of how we as a society tend to wait for a problem to become insurmoutable before we address it. I think starting to deal with a problem early as opposed to waiting until it's a large problem seems like a good idea.

I personally enjoy the night sky when I'm in the islands. The best that I remember was on Moloka'i. Man I felt like I could touch em..





Blessings,
dave


"Sometimes your the bug and sometimes your the windshield"