Its not the main point in the article but some figures on this.
"By some estimates, 85 per cent of the night sky above the European Union is light-polluted; in the US it is 62 per cent and in Japan 98.5 per cent. In some countries, including Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, there is no longer any night sky untainted by light pollution." (
New Scientist
)
The Irish night sky is an ecomomic asset - one that Bord Fáilte should develop. I know An Taisce have a policy on this, what is Bord Failte actively doing about this. Does Bord Fáilte recognise the benefit of a dark sky policy?
Depends on that they mean by polluted I think. On average thats probably right, there are vast areas of the US that are dark, whether thats desert, farms or mountains - particularly in the western US. Europe is a little more dense. compare the images at
www.lightpollution.it/worldatlas/pages/fig1.htm
An Taise have helped us in the past by also asking for councils to adopt anti light pollution pieves into development plans.
Bord Failte dont see the benefits to this, golf courses seems to be all they think about. The phone call I had with Bord failte a couple of years ago was a very brief on unfortunately. As ever though a few letters from people to them can do no harm
