So far, the new group reports hearing from Audubon Society members worried about birds distracted by lights, and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, concerned about trees. The Manchester Planning Board wants to talk to us. The plan is to meet with state officials soon. There's no extra cost for making lighting the right way. They said they'd never talked to anyone about light pollution.
Light pollution is a security issue, a waste issue and an environmental issue, the group says.
On the security front, people automatically think more light equals more safety. Not so, says the group. Yet anybody in the shadows can see you. Some studies show that vandalism increases with light, the group says. About waste, lighting highway signs from the bottom up blasts light into the sky and doesn't work if it snows.