Shops and offices throughout France will be forced to turn off their lights overnight in a bid to fight light pollution, the country’s environment ministry has announced.

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Astronomer and presenter of BBC’S ‘The Sky at Night’ dies following illness

‘‘With his upper–class accent and monocle, Moore was the personification of an eccentric English gentleman but he was also a brilliant television presenter and astronomy writer.

Sir Patrick Moore, the man who arguably did most to popularise astronomy, died yesterday at the age of 89. To the end he maintained his remarkable record of presenting every edition of the BBC television programme The Sky at Night, which he fronted for more than 50 years, interrupted only once, by salmonella poisoning. 

With his upper–class accent and monocle, Moore was the personification of an eccentric English gentleman but was also a gifted television presenter and astronomy writer.

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A dark–skies park, where visitors can see the wonders of the night sky unimpeded by light pollution, could boost tourism here, writes Ronan Mcgree

Urbanites cannot see the Milky Way or Andromeda, our nearest neighbour

ASTRONOMY IS A FOUNDATION of science. The desire to understand the skies was common to every ancient civilisation, from Mesopotamia to our own, as seen at the magnificent Newgrange. 

Astronomy informed much of the mythmaking and storytelling that are the basis of our oral and written cultures. Yet the sense of wonder generated by the stars has largely been lost on present generations. The advent of mass artificial lighting in the early part of the 20th century has made our streets safer but obliterated the night skies for most of us. 

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We are losing our view of the heavens. Half the UK’s population can see only a fraction of the stars in the night sky, so saturated is it with light pollution. The findings of the annual star count survey published this week are a giant leap backwards for mankind. Many children growing up today will never see the swirling Milky Way except on a celestial chocolate wrapper. Just over half the thousand people who took part in the survey failed to see more than 10 points of light in the star–studded constellation of Orion. Fewer than one in 10 could see between 21 and 30 stars, and just 2% experienced truly dark skies, seeing 31 or more stars. In brightly lit London, Orion is one of the more visible constellations, but it’s rare to see much more than his feet and shoulders, and the occasional glittering fragment of his belt.

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Lights were switched off at some of the country's best-known landmarks, from the Rock of Cashel to Trim Castle, while public buildings including the Four Courts and the Houses of the Oireachtas descended into darkness.

Homes and businesses were also encouraged to take part in the event. The first Earth Hour took place in Sydney in 2007. Since then the initiative has gained widespread support around the world, with over 120 countries taking part this year.

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U.N.'s Participation in Earth Hour Is Full of Hot Air, Critics Say
Friday, March 27, 2009
By Joshua Rhett Miller

In what it's calling a "vote for the future of planet Earth," the World Wildlife Fund wants every light in the world to go dark for one hour on Saturday as a symbolic gesture to call for action on climate change.

It's called Earth Hour - and among the places where the lights will go out are the Eiffel Tower, the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing, the Pyramids of Giza and Niagara Falls.

And, for the first time in the event's three-year existence, the New York headquarters of the United Nations will also go dark, a move officials say will save $102, a figure that fluctuated wildly from its whopping initial estimate of $81,000 when requested from U.N. officials.

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This little town is in the dark and proud of it.

Where other places greet the night by lighting up their streets and tourist attractions, this one goes the other way - low-energy sodium lamps are shielded from above, and household lights must face down, not up.

The purpose: to bring out the stars.

The town of 830 people on New Zealand's South Island is on a mission to protect the sight of the night sky, even as it disappears behind light and haze in many parts of the world.

The ultimate prize would be UNESCO's approval for the first "starlight reserve," and already the "astro tourists" are coming.

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Finnegan's wake-up call
MEET one of Ireland's GREENEST men - environmentalist Pat Finnegan who recycles EVERYTHING he uses. Now he wants us all to follow suit and live 100 per cent rubbish-free. Last night he gave his backing to our Earth Hour campaign and told how he has devoted his life to saving the planet, even in the pre-environmentally aware days of the 1970's.
He's never owned a car, uses leftover tea to water his plants and gets around on a bike he salvaged from the River Liffey a decade ago. Pat, 57, from Blackrock, Co Dublin, who works for the eco group, Grian, said: ‘When the Celtic Tiger was in full bloom people were throwing everything into skips like tables, chairs, and bookshelves. ‘I was recycling it instead of it being dumped in a landfill. Virtually everything can be used again or composted such as fruit, bread, egg shells and newspapers.'

Gormley write on
OUR Earth Hour campaign has been given a massive boost by Environment Minister John Gormley. He has written to all 34 county and city councils in Ireland urging them to take part. In the first week 9 signed up to turn off all non-essential lights at 8.30pm on March 28th. City Councils involved are Galway, Limerick, Waterford, and Cork. County Councils in Kerry, Laois, Sligo, Monahan and Longford are also on board.

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The Victoria Square dome, Belfast Wheel, Queen's University and Belfast City Hall will be plunged into darkness in one month's time as part of the biggest ever mass global action on climate change.

Skylines across the globe will darken as millions of people across the planet switch off their lights for one hour, sending a signal to global leaders that they must take urgent action to tackle climate change.

Geoff Nuttall, head of WWF Northern Ireland, said: "By signing up to switch their lights off, millions of people will be showing world leaders that they care about curbing the worst impacts of climate change while we still can

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The News of the World turns up the heat on our politicians today and urges them to get behind Earth Hour. We want to see every publicly funded building in the country lead by example and switch off the lights for one hour at 8.30pm on March 28. And we're going to start by putting pressure on county and town councils.

Ireland is still not listed on the website of the organizing body, the World Wildlife Fund, as a country taking part in Earth Hour because NOT ONE city has yet signed up yet.

Dublin City Council has put the wheels in motion, but others are lagging badly behind - using red tape as an excuse for ducking out. Tony Lowes, one of the founders of Friends of the Irish Environment, is calling on Irish News of the World Readers to write to their public representatives and ask for their support.

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Some species confuse large glass buildings with bodies of water
An international team of researchers has found another form of light pollution that could have an adverse effect on wildlife.

The scientists showed that as well as direct light sources, polarised light also triggered potentially dangerous changes in many species' behaviour.

They added that road surfaces and glass buildings were among the main sources of this form of light pollution.

The findings appear in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Co-author Bruce Robertson, an ecologist from Michigan State University, US, said polarised light from structures within the built environment overwhelmed natural cues that controlled animal behaviour.

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Sky watchers could catch a dazzling treat this week, with the peak of what is expected to be an unusually good Taurid meteor shower.

Meteors are bits of dust or rock that plunge into Earth's atmosphere at high speed, producing a glowing trail as they heat up gas particles.

The Earth began cutting across the broad dust trail in October, but it will cross the densest parts of the stream on 5 and 12 November. The best view of the Taurids is expected to fall on the night of 5 November, since the second peak may be obscured by an almost-full Moon.

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From the Sydney Opera House to Rome's Colosseum to the Sears Tower's famous antennas in Chicago, floodlit icons of civilization went dark Saturday for Earth Hour, a worldwide campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.

The environmental group WWF urged governments, businesses and households to turn back to candle power for at least 60 minutes starting at 8 p.m. wherever they were.

The campaign began last year in Australia, and traveled this year from the South Pacific to Europe to North America in cadence with the setting of the sun.

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WEXFORD Green Party is asking people all over the county to get behind a new campaign to highlight the need for energy conservation.The worldwide campaign, first begun in Sydney, Australia, last year, asks people to turn the lights out for one hour at 8 p.m. on March 29.

WEXFORD Green Party is asking people all over the county to get behind a new campaign to highlight the need for energy conservation.

The worldwide campaign, first begun in Sydney, Australia, last year, asks people to turn the lights out for one hour at 8 p.m. on March 29.

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It should be a case of lights out' in Wexford town this Friday, March 29 as the Council supports Earth Hour 2008 but there are many public lights that may not be switched off.
The Mayor, George Lawlor's fellow councillors have supported his proposal for all non-essential lights controlled by the local authority to be switched off from 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. that night.
There is only one problem - the Municipal Buildings will be in darkness anyway because the Countil operates from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and it may not be possible to switch off public lighting and traffic lights for safety reasons.

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AN hour-long power blackout to plunge Ireland into darkness is being planned by two Government ministers.

Environment Minister John Gormley and his junior coalition colleague Noel Ahern are supporting the Earth Hour campaign to stop wasting of power and improve efficiency.

The campaign -will see lights across Ireland being turned off for an hour on Saturday March 29 at 8pm.

Friends of the Irish Environment is helping to promote the mass switchoff'.

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Dublin City Council is to be one of the lead Irish supporters of this year's Earth Hour - a global environmental campaign to switch off non-essential lights for one hour on March 29th next, to highlight climate change, energy wastage and light pollution.

Dublin's Lord Mayor Cllr Paddy Burke has asked businesses, households and individuals to "recognise the need for action on global warming and the need to conserve energy, reduce carbon emissions and also the need to reduce light pollution of our night skies".

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