The Minneapolis Star Tribune published a piece over the weekend about the gradual extinguishing of the starry skies over the southern part of the state, thanks to increasing diffusion of urban light heavenward. To some this might seem about as serious as the issue of noise from leaf blowers this time of year (and yes, a local man is proposing an ordinance to regulate that, too).
But something more is at stake than pretty skies -- what Rachel Carson called the sense of wonder. To see what I mean, go to the letter to the editor below the link to the article, by a woman who claims she just saw the Milky Way for the first time (in her fourth decade) by leaving the city. Can kids who grow up without any sense of our place in the cosmos truly develop that sense of wonder?
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1556/5083700.html
Heavenly lights
The Nov. 14 article "Keeping the stars in sight" was very timely for a group of teenagers returning home from a church retreat "up north" near Deerwood, Minn.
The young people were not the only ones fascinated by the night sky over the weekend. But as we drove home, one of the students asked, "How come they have so many more stars up north than we do?" I explained a little bit about light pollution, and let them know that the folks up north don't have more stars than we do in southeastern Minnesota -- they can just see more of them!
Your article will go with me to class. Oh, and the Milky Way? I saw it this weekend -- for the first time in my four decades of life!
Tammy J. Rider, Claremont, Minn.