Here's How We Can Bring Back Starry Nights to Houston

My name is Romic, and I am a teenage Houstonian who loves astronomy.

I can clearly remember when I first became interested in astronomy, not too long ago in November, 2010. We had just finished up our astronomy unit in Science and there was a lot of hype about Jupiter making it’s closest approach in nearly 50 years. Ever since then, I was outside every night with my binoculars trying to get a good view of Jupiter. Even without a telescope, I’d always scan my binoculars across the sky every night and see what I could find.

Before my interest in astronomy, I tried to remember if I had ever seen the stars, and I unfortunately realized that I had never really seen any stars in the sky!

It was in November when I began looking up at the sky more often and then realizing that the stars were actually there. After many months, I received my first telescope for Christmas and started reading books and articles on astronomy. I then learned about light pollution and realized that the stars I looked at every night were only a fraction of what I could have been seeing.

As the months went on, I carried on my interest and hobby until about 1 week ago when I decided to create a petition on Change.org. I sat there at my desk thinking about what I should start a petition about, and then it hit me. Light pollution. The issue that I have felt strongly about, but haven’t known how to help fix.

I began typing away and after about 30 minutes I had officially created my petition. I sent the link to my friends and family and slowly began gaining support. I gained around 20 signatures overnight from around the world, and more people began to sign, but after a few days, I decided it was time to recruit more of my fellow Houstonians.

I emailed many of our local astronomy clubs and even the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) as well as their Texas chapter and afterwards, more and more Houstonians signed and the petition was even featured on IDA’s Facebook page!

My petition has already doubled  my original goal of 100 signatures. Already, the Houston Parks and Recreation Department has acknowledged the petition, and I have received a letter from our Mayor.

Here is what she wrote:

Thank you for bringing this important issue to my attention. I am always looking for ways to reduce pollution in Houston. I visited your website and read the full petition letter, which was also forwarded to me by many people from both Houston and around the world. I appreciate the suggestions that the petition included, and I will keep them in mind moving forward.

Sincerely,

Annise D. Parker, Mayor

Now, I have decided to focus one or two viable solutions to help get the ball rolling on addressing light pollution issues in Houston.

For example, as a great first step, I think the city could slowly begin to fix and/or replace many of our old, inefficient light fixtures by using full cutoff light fixtures that direct light to the ground and not into the sky. Many of these old streetlights will need to be replaced eventually, therefore we can slowly begin to fit our streetlights with these new fixtures, saving the city money while replacing fixtures that already need repairs.

I am going to work to try to have a conversation with Mayor Parker’s office about this idea. For now, you can continue to offer your support by signing my petition. Thank you to all who have already signed and have helped me get the Mayor's attention.

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Photo credit: Eran Finkle via Flickr