Submissions/Light the Night Sky: The Issue of Light Pollution

This is an Open submission for Wikimania 2017 that has not yet been reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Submission no. 7034

Title of the submission: Light the Light Sky: The Issue of Light Pollution

Type of submission (lecture, panel, tutorial/workshop, roundtable discussion, lightning talk, poster, birds of a feather discussion): Lightning Talk or a Lecture

Author of the submission: Vasu Jain

type of submission: Lightning Talk or a Lecture

Language of presentation: English

E-mail address

vasujain_vj@yahoo.com

Username: vasujain_vj

Country of origin: India

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.): Gujarat National Law University

Personal homepage or blog

Abstract (up to 300 words to describe your proposal)

There had been much concern about the degrading land, contaminated air, polluted water, changing climate but there seems to be very less concern about the vanishing stars and disappearing night sky. Stars which have for centuries were the guides and compasses for the sailors, now are not even a concern for protection. These disappearing stars are due to the phenomenon of Light pollution, a type of pollution in which neither the light is being polluted (as in case of land and air pollution) nor light itself is a pollutant (as in noise pollution) but it is the excess of light which escapes or is directed towards the sky that creates the felony.

Though the subject of light pollution is not explored much and scientific researches and legal jurisprudence is invited, this article tries to bring this derelict issue into light. This article focuses on light pollution from different viewpoints. It starts with defining and explaining the phenomenon of light pollution with its various types and the causes of light pollution. Then a genuine question is raised is whether light pollution is indeed a pollution because when somebody talks about the need to protect the night sky, people are even more perplexed: Protect the night sky? From what? What for? The article then moves forward to see the complications in this issue. The article then moves on ti the legal point and ponder over the Right to starlight and dark sky with different UN meetings and conferences taking place. A slight attempt has been made to see the laws of different states and countries. And finally as there is no law in India on the concerned matter, a proposal has been made for the vital themes to be incorporated.

This article tries to cover light pollution from diverse perspectives: ecological, biological, scientific, legal and general.

What will attendees take away from this session?

Awareness about the surroundings and how the ignorance of man is costing him some of the most invaluable natural asset i.e. stars. Also, they will be acquinted with the legal provisions regulating the intensity of light and what are the scientific ways in which they could contribute towards the protection of the night sky.

Theme of presentation: Education, awareness, Pollution, Light Pollution, vanishing of stars

For workshops and discussions, what level is the intended audience?

Beginning and intermediate

Length of session (if other than 25 minutes, specify how long): 25 minutes

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?: Will try to.

Slides or further information (optional)

Special requests

Is this Submission a Draft or Final?

This is a Completed submission for Wikimania 2017 ready to be reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Interested attendees

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An interesting topic which hopefully will be related to Wikipedia in some way. Anne Delong (talk) 04:27, 17 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@Vasujain vj: This is an important topic indeed, and one that I am personally interested in — just last Saturday, my town switched off all public lights in the city center for the whole night and all public lights in the entire city for two hours, and I used the rare opportunity (this happens once a year here and also occasionally elsewhere) to go out and watch the stars with my family. However, as Anne Delong remarked above and WereSpielChequers on the talk page, it is not clear from the description how this submission will relate to Wikimedia projects. For this, I could think of a number of ways, e.g. Wikipedia articles about light pollution and related topics like sky glow, Wikimedia Commons images affected by light pollution, strategies to handle light pollution when trying to take night pictures for Wikimedia Commons, adding light pollution-related information to Wikivoyage articles, organizing events centred around the topic (think a guided nighty tour at Wikimania, or a hackathon), or exploring ways to integrate Wikimedia platforms with research projects on the topic, especially citizen science ones. Without such a clear link, the submission will stand no chance of entering the program of Wikimania 2017, which is what these submissions are for. --Daniel Mietchen (talk) 15:24, 28 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]