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The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES or
IESNA, 120 Wall Street, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10005) is the
main professional organization for lighting engineers in this
country. The IES publishes many information books for lighting
professionals and has established sets of recommended lighting
levels for various applications (see essay below on recommended
lighting levels for various tasks). For nighttime sports
activities, these recommended levels may be quite high, but for
security lighting in a rural area with little activity, they
will be quite low. The IES recommended lighting levels are not
the absolute answer for every lighting situation or need, but
they are a good start for most occasions requiring a reasonable
amount of nighttime lighting. In general, it is a good idea for
a lighting application not to exceed IES recommendations,
because this will usually lead to wasted energy and possible
light pollution, light trespass, and glare.
The International Dark-Sky Association, Inc. (IDA) is a
sustaining member of the IES and believes very strongly in the
professional approach the IES takes toward lighting
applications. Most of the individual members of the IES make
their living designing indoor and outdoor lighting systems, and
many of them are familiar with IDA. Most professional outdoor
lighting engineers who are members of the IES are supportive of
IDA's goals.
LIGHT POLLUTION ONLY AFFECTS ASTRONOMERS
Light pollution affects all of us. It robs the professional
astronomer of a livelihood and hinders the amateur's enjoyment
of a hobby, but it deprives everybody of the awesome grandeur of
the night sky. Many persons who claim this is of no importance
have never gone far enough out of town to see what they are
missing. Those who grow up in an urban environment may never see
the Milky Way. How can someone miss something he or she has
never seen?
The loss of the night sky desensitizes us to other insults upon
the environment. It's the same as saying the loss of a virgin
forest is of no concern, because most people don't live in the
woods, and there are plenty of trees elsewhere. The loss of wild
flowers, polar bears, wolves, whales, and other threatened
species, to be honest, won't affect the average person. Their
loss only directly impacts biologists who study them. After all,
mankind has done very well without mammoths, mastodons, and
passenger pigeons.
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