Even the most prosaic among is won over by the magic of gazing up at the sky at night. If it's really dark it's possible to see 7,000 stars, just a fraction of the billions in the universe. Such glimpses are moments of wonder, moments that make us recognise the infinity of creation and the smallness of human experience. Such moments are the stuff of the soul. Yet many of us will only rarely experience such wonders thanks to light pollution.
Now a host of dark sky experts are urging us to dim the lights and bring a little magic back into our every day lives through the stars.
The benefits are not just poetic - human health and wellbeing respond better to natural light rhythms, while our ecosystem thrives when not disrupted by artificial light. The annual cost saving of dimming the lights in the small town of Moffat alone was £9000 last year and the energy savings benefit the planet as well as the public purse.
Its undeniable that refitting "smart" LED lights, capable of being dimmed or put on responsive timers, would be a substantial outlay, but projections claim costs could be claimed back within five years. Scotland already has some of the darkest expanses of sky in Europe. Let's capitalise on that and reap the rewards, not only for ourselves - and our souls - but for the visitors who will flock here to revel in our glorious night skies.
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It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
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That is invaluable.
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