Starry, Starry Night

This week is primary election week. And if we had a vote on pollution, I’m pretty sure

what the outcome would be. “Do we want more pollution?” Like me, you’d vote NO, right?

“Do we want less pollution?” We’d all vote YES. Like death and taxes, pollution is almost

universally considered a bad thing.

So two weeks ago, when some very polite workers came to reduce the light pollution on

my street, I was predictably ecstatic. One of the workers handed a brand new, eco-friendly,

dimmable LED light fixture to the other one in a lift, and in less that 10 minutes, Leslie and I had

a new streetlight.

It’s all part of the night-sky-friendly lighting management plan that the City Council

adopted back in 2023. With a $1.9 million U.S. Economic Development Authority (EDA) grant,

supplemented by $600,000 from its own coffers, Boulder City is retrofitting 84% of its outdated

street lights.

Depending on which people you listen to, the intended benefits include: (1) reducing light

pollution; (2) curbing harmful greenhouse gas emissions; (3) unspoiling the night skies and

promoting better stargazing opportunities; (4) protecting natural ecosystems and nocturnal

wildlife from negative nighttime light impacts, including stunted plant growth; (5) advancing

sustainable dark sky recreation and tourism opportunities; (6) increasing visitor overnight stays;

(7) improving driver and pedestrian safety; (8) reducing energy costs; (9) restoring our

community’s natural nighttime beauty and historic character; (10) enhancing our quality of life;

(11) increasing valuable teaching opportunities on STEM subjects; and (12) my personal

favorite, supporting astro-tourism (which sounds an awful lot like filling our nightclubs with

extraterrestrials and aliens, but might just be a repeat of #5 above).

Until recent years, I never really considered any kind of light to be pollution. But the

more I think about it, the more I agree that artificial light can be just that. Don’t get me wrong, I

still believe Thomas Edison’s invention was one of the greatest ever. But when artificial light is

so bright, strobing, or pervasive that it blocks natural light or distracts from other gifts that God

has endowed us or our world with, then it can quickly turn into pollution, skew our vision, and

distort our perspectives.

In the ‘70s, my parents bought an old adobe vacation home in a tiny southern Utah town

(population < 500), and every time I go there I’m amazed anew that the Milky Way even exists.

It’s absolutely spectacular! Living near the neon lights of Vegas, it’s easy for me to forget what

I’m missing. Even camping near the metropolis of Nelson, NV (population 36), it’s hard to see

the stellar universe as it tries to compete with Las Vegas’ perpetual nightlife glow and the

Luxor’s sky beam.

At home in Boulder City when gazing up form my hot tub at night, why does it seem like

there are fewer and fewer stars every year, each of them growing ever fainter? Maybe that’s in

part because I’m getting increasingly older and my eyes aren’t what they used to be? But I

suspect that light pollution is the bigger culprit.

One of our neighbor’s grandsons used to sit in his parked car at the end of our cul-de-sac

and shine his high beams toward our house for hours after 8:00 p.m., presumably scrolling on his

phone. That sometimes bothered me a bit, so I understand why residents sometimes complain

about bright streetlights shining too brightly through their windows.

Our streetlight, on the other hand, has hardly ever given off much light at all. So, I’ve

been astonished to see how much light the new eco-friendly fixture is now giving off. It’s so

many times brighter than the old one that I keep looking out our window every night wondering

if Mr. High Beams is back and up to his old tricks. But, alas, it’s just my new streetlight.

Leslie, for one, thinks that the jury is still out on benefit #4. We never knew that bunnies

were such nocturnal animals. That is, until they started chewing up our lawn at night about a

decade ago and haven’t stopped since. She tried a motion-activated alarm at first, but the rabbits

just dance to it like music. She even put up a “Coyotes Welcome” sign at the end of our street,

but that hasn’t worked either. And, sure enough, the bunnies are still holding after-midnight

parties on our lawn even with the new 10x streetlight installed. Looking on the bright side,

though, the stray racoon that camped out in our yard two years ago hasn’t returned, so that’s

good news.

Well, I’m not a cynical as I sound. I truly am grateful to live in Boulder City where we

care enough to replace our street lights once in a while. And where our pollution has always

been minimal compared to our neighbors over the hill.

I once made the mistake during a Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) board

meeting of remarking about the haze of smog I observe every day when I descend from Railroad

Pass into the Las Vegas Valley, and how glad I am that I don’t have to breathe that “second-hand

smoke” every day like they do. Needless to say, that didn’t go over too well.

So, you would think that I’d eventually learn to keep my mouth shut on controversial

subjects. But Leslie says the odds of that happening are . . . astronomically small.