After my last two posts about shop lighting and other commercial electricals being left on at night time (‘And let there be less light’ & ‘And the rant goes on…’) Henriette suggested that we take this further and form something official to encourage businesses to waste less energy and cause less light pollution.

Of course, its not just shop lighting. Poorly directed street lighting and unnecessarily bright floodlights and security lighting are also culprits.

It struck me that we’re not the only ones bugged by this issue. We received comments from GGG readers and editors saying that they would join the ‘shop light fight’ and our friends over at ‘All things Eco’ have already included it on their Campaigns page!

Taking a further look on the internet I’ve found that others are making the same points and asking the same questions.

The Good Human asks “Why in the world do businesses leave their lights on?”

Darren Baskill writes an excellent article on the BBC website – ‘Lighting is still in the Dark Age’ .

Carry out a search on Google for ‘Light Pollution’ and you will find stargazers, environmentalists, campaigners and health experts telling us that light pollution:

• disrupts wildlife
• is damaging to human health
• wastes electricity (and therefore increases carbon emissions) and;
• impedes our view of the night sky

They also ask:

• Why don’t governments bring in more stringent laws about unneccessary lighting?
• If some countries can bring in measures (e.g. to dim lights after midnight) then why can’t others?
• Why is inefficient lighting still made available in diy stores?

In my view the laws in the UK (and other countries) need to be stricter on when and how lighting is used, particularly with regard to commercial use on shop fronts.

So, what can we do? Here’s a few ideas for GGG editors and readers:

1. Contact your favourite green blogs and ask them if they will mention light pollution in one of their upcoming posts. I’m a firm believer in there being power in numbers – Imagine how far spread this message could become if even a few of the many green bloggers talked about light pollution all at the same time!

2. Write to your local MP, tell them about your concerns and ask them to raise this issue in parliament.

3. Petition the PM. There are currently around 300 petitions relating to light pollution on the 10 Downing Street petition site (UK). It only takes a few moments to add your name and tell the PM how you feel about this issue. If anyone can tell us about similar petitions in countries other than the UK please let us know and we’ll post them up here.

4. Express your interest. If you want to join the shop light fight or indeed have already taken action then please tell us! We can provide updates about what you have been doing and continue this campaign with your support.

Thank you x