NELPAG Circular No. 6
NELPAG Circular No. 6 1994 May 26
New England Light Pollution Advisory Group (NELPAG)
Editor: Daniel W. E. Green [Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory;
60 Garden Street; Cambridge, MA 02138] (telephone 617-495-7440)
e-mail: green@cfa (.bitnet, .span, or .harvard.edu)
Secretary: Eric Johansson (telephone 508-667-0137)
email: esj@harvee.billerica.ma.us or esj@temerity.polaroid.com
"Subscription" to this irregular news/information Circular is available by
sending self-addressed, stamped (29-cent) regular-sized (9.5x4-inch) envelopes
(SASE) to Dan Green at his postal address, or by sending your e-mail address
to either Dan or Eric using the e-mail addresses above. Contributed
information for this Circular concerning outdoor lighting problems in New
England (or pertinent info from outside New England) are welcomed. Please
circulate this newsletter to all interested parties.
***********
NELPAG REGIONAL MEETING HELD ON MAY 21
Nine people from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts attended a
very productive NELPAG meeting at Harvard College Observatory on May 21.
There were three important items resulting from that meeting that I will
note here. First is the decision to select Saturday, October 22, as the
time for the next meeting of the annual light-pollution conference
co-sponsored by Sky and Telescope magazine, the International Dark-Sky
Association, and the NELPAG. Peter Talmage will serve as local host for
the meeting, which will begin at 1 p.m., at the Community Center of the
South Congregational Church in Kennebunkport, Maine, which is across the
street from the post office, on Spring Street (just off of Route 9). After the
meeting, the group will have dinner and an evening tour of local outdoor
lighting; the Kennebunkport area has seen great successes in recent years
in local outdoor lighting ordinances, and this meeting will focus on what
has worked for the local group and how things developed for them. It
promises to be a very enlightening meeting, and I encourage people from
all over the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada to attend this
meeting to learn how they can work effectively on constructively combatting
light pollution at their own localities.
The second big item discussed at the May 21 meeting resulted from
Pete Talmage bringing numerous copies of a preliminary draft a document that
his group (the Kennebunkport Lighting Committee) produced entitled "Good
Neighbor Outdoor Lighting: How to Select and Install Lighting that Conforms
to the Kennebunkport Outdoor Lighting Ordinance", part of which is reproduced
here with his kind permission. The suggestion was raised that an effective
glossy brochure be published for nationwide distribution that would discuss
the problem of poor outdoor lighting in simple terms for the average "person
on the street", providing "illuminating" photographs showing good and bad
outdoor lighting, and listing where one should go for proper residential,
commercial, civic, and street night lighting fixtures. The idea is to list
manufacturers of good fixtures (with company names, addresses, and phone
numbers), along with specific names and catalogue numbers of good fixtures.
We have decided to meet again in Portsmouth, NH, on June 19 [see note below]
to discuss developments and further directions on this brochure, which is
slated for completion in time for the October 22 meeting in Kennebunk.
Steve O'Meara is pursuing the possibility of having Sky Publishing
Corporation publish the brochure, which is intended to be around 8-10 pages
long. We are contacting lighting manufacturers to tell them of the plan, with
a possible printing run in the tens of thousands, and hope to get advertising
(only that pertaining to good outdoor fixtures will be accepted) to help pay
for the cost of printing and distributing the brochure.
The third item is that we have asked for a half hour "under the tent"
at Stellafane in Vermont this coming August to discuss the progress of
NELPAG. Stellafane is a big, annual, outdoor U.S.-Canadian amateur astronomy
meeting recently attended by as many as 2000 people each year. This should
be a good opportunity to raise some further interest (and, hopefully, support)
for our cause.
I have received no further news on the status of the Massachusetts
outdoor lighting bill, but will pass any news along this channel.
-- Dan Green
JUNE 19 MEETING IN PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE
As noted above, we're scheduling a dinner meeting for 5 p.m. on Sunday,
June 19, to discuss the brochure that we are assembling and also further
details on the October 22 meeting. We will meet at the School House Restaurant,
and all are invited to attend, but we need to know numbers by June 15 (so
please contact Dan or Eric by June 15 if you plan to attend). The School
House Restaurant is located at 1465 Woodbury Ave., next to the K-Mart Shopping
Center (and west of Interstate 95). If coming from the south (Massachusetts),
get off I-95 at the Portsmouth center exit (toward the right), whence you
will come promptly to a traffic circle; you want to continue straight, so
go halfway around the traffic circle, but instead of continuing straight
ahead on Route 1, bear right onto an exit ramp, which will take you to
Woodbury Ave., and you'll be going left and over Route 1 off of the exit
ramp; then go about 1 mile to the restaurant (their phone number is
603-431-4650 if you get lost). Pete Talmage says they have a function room
for our group and good food. Hope to see you there!
***********
Enclosure [postal mail only]: excerpts from the "Good Neighbor Outdoor
Lighting" document (preliminary first draft) of the Kennebunkport (Maine)
Lighting Committee, courtesy Peter Talmage.
***********
NOTE: When sending SASEs to Dan for your subscription to the printed NELPAG
Circular, please write the Circular number on the back of the envelope; he's
losing track of who's getting which issue! So, if you've run out after
receiving this particular issue (No. 6), send three more SASEs, and number
them 7, 8, and 9 on the back side.
***********
The NELPAG supports the International Dark-Sky Association and recommends
that all individuals/groups who are interested in the problems of light
pollution and obtrusive lighting should subscribe to the IDA Newsletter
(IDA membership costs $20.00 per year; send check to
International Dark-Sky Association, 3545 N. Stewart, Tucson, AZ 85716).