Night blight from church lighting
And God Divided the Light From the Darkness...(Genesis 1:4)
In Autumn 2004, the Archbishop of York, David Hope, and the head of theRoman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor,joined with other denominational leaders in the UK to call for the saving ofenergy. "Operation Noah" (see their website at "www.christian-ecology.org.uk/noah/) embraces acampaign to curb climate change, by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. The campaign aims to highlight warnings that atmospheric warming fromburning carbon fuels is altering climate patterns and raising sea levels.
In August 2008, the Church of England published a book recommending that the number of evenings on which buildings are lit up with floodlights should be limited in order to reduce energy use and cut carbon emissions (see this Telegraph aritcle).
All over the UK, in both urban and rural areas, hundreds of churchescontribute to skyglow and energy waste, some every night and someoccasionally, by using exterior floodlighting schemes which do more than thejob they are supposed to do - to illuminate the building by night. They alsothrow light into the night sky. This problem was considerably accentuatedduring the Millennium period, when many churches "lit up", at theinstigation of both the Millennium Commission and the Church FloodlightingTrust, using money from both the public and from interested parties to urgechurches to install exterior lights.
If you belong to a church congregation, or are simply interested in savingenergy and preserving our view of the stars, please make sure that yourlocal church authorities understand that floodlighting should be included intheir energy debate.Future outdoor lighting schemes, if they are to go ahead, should beefficient and well directed. A survey of local people before decisions aretaken on floodlighting churches may well show that it is not a universallypopular measure...
Rural Floodlighting - a popular option?
A concerned resident sent a questionnaire to all householders in the villageof Creaton, Northants, on the subject of the proposed floodlighting of thelocal church. Returned questionnaires showed that:
- 76% (45 out of 59 respondents) were not aware of the planned installation.
- 83% (49 out of 59 respondents) were not in favour of the proposed scheme.
- Of the 59 respondents, 48 (81%) would prefer, if lighting were installed,not to have floodlights on every night, but only on special occasions.
The Millennium Commission's clear statement that church floodlightingschemes should have local support, and the Church Floodlighting Trust'sassumption that floodlighting rural buildings is a popular and welcomemeasure, are not borne out by these findings.
The outcome of the presentation of the data to the church authorities wasthat the proposed scheme was reduced to occasional lighting only (churchfestivals, St George's day, New Year's Day) with an 11 p.m. switch-off.