Industrial pollution hit a high mark in the 60’s and 70’s, resulting in the creation of government agencies to establish and enforce rules to protect both our environment and human health.  Fifty years have passed and we are now realizing that we have reached a new threshold of pollution and we continue to threaten the health of our planet and ourselves.  

The Federal and State EPAs and local boards have done remarkable work over the decades to identify and guard against pollutants.  Then, it was industrial waste discharges and disposals, lead in gasoline,  reducing fossil fuel use through efficiency standards, water quality protections from development projects, smog and air quality pollutants, among others.  Today we have high CO2 levels and a global climate crisis, micro plastics in the environment and our own bodies, PFAS in our water and foods, insect population collapse, pollinator shortages, insecticides and pesticide environmental and human threats.  Light pollution is new to the list, and just as serious.  We have a lot more light emissions every year and it compromises environmental and human health, causing health misery and environmental damage.

We have too many very difficult challenges to face and resolve.  Our light by-law, proposed at our town meeting this Saturday, is a definitive tool to stop light pollution.  Those who worry about the potential risk of fines for compliance issues need reassurance that the cost to human health is far greater than any fine hardship that might occur.

My hope is that the public will join, as in the 60’s and 70’s, in a determined crusade to stop light pollution and all the others on the list of threats.  To not aggressively attack these pollutants risks human suffering beyond imagination.  We, and more importantly our children, deserve our very best protective efforts.

Please vote “YES” to our proposed light pollution by-law.


Regards, Tony Beattie