Ever Growing Light Pollution

[solissydney]

http://gu.com/p/42tgb?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
First the Asbestos scare,then the Tobacco scare, now the 'Too Much Light at Night' scare as arrived.

[gary]

Though the author's point is that street lighting is a relatively recent
phenomena in the history of civilization, she is not quite correct in
stating it began appearing in the mid 1800's.

In fact, the first electric street lighting in Europe did not appear
until the late 1800s. Specifically, in Paris and London in 1878.

It wasn't until 1895 that the Niagara Falls Power Company began
generating and distributing alternating current.

The first town in Australia to be fitted with electric street lighting was
Tamworth, NSW in 1888.

There was a neat little short article (http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/history/the-miraculous-1880s) in the Jul 2015 edition of the Institute
of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Spectrum Magazine entitled
"The Miraculous 1880s".



As Smit highlights, the 1880's were a golden age of high technology, including -

1882 :
* Thomas Edison's first central electricity station London
* The electric iron
* Hydroelectric power

1883 :
* Cash register
* Coin vending machine

1884:
* Steam turbine

1885:
* Four-stroke internal-combustion engine
* First multistorey steel-skeleton skyscraper
* Safety bicycle introduced

1886:
* Coca-Cola

1888:
* First practical electric street railway
* Ballpoint pen

1889:
* Revolving door introduced
* First electric elevator

That article here -
http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/history/the-miraculous-1880s


The nightly Hong Kong "Symphony of Light" laser light show, the world's
largest permanent light and sound show, is actually an Australian export.
It was designed and developed by a small company at Dural in Sydney.

In turn, much of the coal that powers the Hong Kong power stations
originated from the Hunter Valley just north of Sydney.

The lights from the open cut mining operations at night have become more
and more visible over the years from where we like to observe in the
lower Hunter.

[bugeater]

I've never heard awareness of the deadly nature of asbestos and tobacco described as a "scare".