Letter: Wasted Light in the Sky

By John Knott, Waterloo

GEORGE BOWLER, of the Wirral Green Party, said that we must find ways to reduce the amount of energy we use and waste every day (Letters, September 26).

He said that one practical outcome was the proposal to designate someone in every public building with a staff of ten or over to oversee energy use.

At last someone within a political party who is aware of the wasted energy that all cities in the UK are responsible for. The amount of wasted energy is there for all to see, anyone who cares to look towards Liverpool from, say, Wirral or Crosby cannot fail to notice the horrible sky glow, the sky appears orange low down and a milky white high up.

Because of the poor lighting of Liverpool’s public buildings, wasted light is shining up to light the night sky. Sky glow as seen from Crosby-Waterloo in 1988 was not seen. Sky glow now in 2005 is so bad that it stretches as far as to be seen directly overhead, and it is getting worse.

I would suggest to Mr Bowler and the Green Party that a good start to reduce energy waste is to address the amount of wasted light polluting our night sky. There are far more beautiful lights up there than any lit-up building. It is a sorry fact that our children are being denied their right to see the true beauty of the night sky