I've been turning all my own lights off and going outside on moonless nights only to realize it's still bright enough to easily read once my eyes adjust :angery:
A couple years ago there was a big power outage in my town for a day or two. I wish I had started getting into astronomy and stargazing back then because I wasn't able to appreciate how dark it probably was at night. Didn't even cross my mind to look at that time. Eagerly awaiting the next time our rotting infrastructure allows me to look into the heavens.
Street lights I understand, but businesses keeping their lights on all night can fuck right off. "Oh it discourages theft" no it doesn't, it's just a huge burden on the power grid and the planet. Rich people fucking everyone over because they're paranoid someone will steal their shit delenda est.
streetlights can be designed to minimize light pollution and not doing that can fuck off
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Yeah I should have mentioned businesses too. They aren't as obvious as the nearby residential sources of light pollution, but I think they actually contribute the most to the sky glow. My best view with the least obstacles is the southern part of the sky, but that's coincidentally the direction of the densest part of town.
The glow from all the businesses lights up the south sky from the horizon to probably 30 or 40 degrees up. Can't see shit in that direction besides the brightest stars in Scorpius. Just my luck that Sagittarius and the Milky Way is completely out of the question as a result of small business tyrants being paranoid.
Where i worked they left all the lights on and had a security guard and electronic locked door system. And someone still just strolled in and stole all the laptops lol.