Light Pollution

lang=EN-GB>The Olive Press’ Paul Downing writes

lang=EN-GB>ONE of the saddest things about our way of life today is that
generations of people are growing up not knowing the sky, simply because they
have never seen it['Junta to switch off light pollution' Issue 8]. style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  The gradual but inexorable loss of the night
sky through excessive, thoughtless or inefficient lighting has made it
virtually impossible to see the stars unless you travel to one of the few dark
places left on the planet.  Before moving
back to Europe lang=EN-GB>, Liz and I lived in Houston lang=EN-GB>, Texas lang=EN-GB> for several years, and we were horrified by the indiscriminate use
of intense lighting for "security" and advertising. style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Car sales dealers seemed to want their
premises lit so brightly that it was close to daylight, many times you were blinded
on the freeways by intense and poorly placed advertising lighting, and rotating
searchlights pointing up into the sky seemed to be very popular. style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Regrettably it seems lang=EN-GB>Granada is rapidly
going the same way.  We are in a dark
valley with few lights, but to the class=GramE>north west lang=EN-GB> lies the city of Granada lang=EN-GB>.  In the Contraviesa
mountain range, and therefore from our house, you can see a huge dome of light
which unshielded lighting has already created there, and we have the 3,000
meters high Sierra Nevada between us!

lang=EN-GB>A surprising thing we have discovered is that many people are
actually scared of the dark.  What is not
fully appreciated is that more than half of all the light we generate to make
us feel "safer" is wasted straight up into the sky. style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Poorly designed and unshielded lighting
creates glare and energy wastage, and a false sense of security due to creation
of harsh shadows where prowlers can hide. 
With the right education we can shield lights, reduce glare, and produce
smoother and safer lighting for a substantial saving on energy usage. style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  This is why we are so pleased that the local
authorities here are planning to introduce lighting controls. style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Hopefully this will drive the lighting
manufacturers to develop more efficient lights, with the subsequent savings in
cost and energy usage. 

lang=EN-GB>There is an international organisation devoted to light pollution – the
IDA http://www.darksky.org/ and they have a lot more information about this
subject.

lang=EN-GB>Let’s support and encourage the authorities as they introduce some
common sense into our use of lighting and prevent any further spoiling of our
Night Sky heritage, before it is too late.

class=GramE>On the up or about to about to fall? lang=EN-GB>

lang=EN-GB>SPAIN has
seen an economic boom over the last ten years or so. In the words of the
International Monetary Fund, it has "continued its prolonged economic
expansion" and "weathered the global slowdown" witnessed in many
other developed countries. The Economist magazine called it "one of lang=EN-GB>Europe‘s best-performing
economies."

lang=EN-GB>At somewhere between 3 and 4 per cent, its economic growth is twice
the average of some of Europe lang=EN-GB>‘s traditional big league hitters. It is now the world’s eighth
biggest economy. Shops Zara and Mango are found on
High Streets around the globe while construction group Ferrovial
made shock waves recently when it – for want of a better word – brazenly made a
successful bid for BAA – the British owner of seven lang=EN-GB>UK
airports, including Heathrow and Gatwick. It is now on the shortlist for the
five-billion-pound sterling tender to widen the M25 motorway which rings lang=EN-GB>London.

lang=EN-GB>Several Spaniards are included on the Forbes list of the world’s
richest people. The founder of clothes shop Zara, class=SpellE>Amancio Ortega is worth around 22 billion euros. class=SpellE>Ferrovial owners the del class=SpellE>Pino family have ten billion euros in their bank accounts
while the owner of another construction company, FCC, is worth around eight
billion euros.

lang=EN-GB>According to the World Wealth Report, lang=EN-GB>Spain is
now in the top 10 countries possessing the most dollar millionaires. There are
now 148,600 millionaires native to the Spanish part of lang=EN-GB>Iberia
with 1,500 of these with assets worth more than 25 million euros. However, the
tax man here would argue against this: according to him, there are only 65
people worth this amount or more.

lang=EN-GB>(An interesting aside is that the majority of this new money has
come from the construction industry and property boom. If there is ever a crash
in the building industry what will happen?)

lang=EN-GB>With all this money around there is bound to be an imbalance
somewhere. According to a recently published report, around 3 per cent of
Spaniards live way below the poverty line. This equates to almost one and a
half million people who live on around 200 euros a month or less.

lang=EN-GB>The same report found 20 per cent of people in the country live in
conditions of what is called "moderate poverty." This means they get
by on 500 euros a month or little more.

lang=EN-GB>The average wage in lang=EN-GB>Spain is 1,900
euros a month before tax and social security payments. With lang=EN-GB>Spain‘s
high inflation rate of 4 per cent (double the rest of the EU member states),
the cost of everyday living is rising. Mortgage rates have risen, energy costs
have gone up and the cost of food and drink has simply gone through the roof.

lang=EN-GB>The Bank of Spain recently published figures which showed half of
the population of Spain lang=EN-GB> has difficulty getting to the end of the month and the average
household debt is 110 per cent more than the monthly income.

lang=EN-GB>Spain is
not the only country in the world in which there is an imbalance of wealth. In
fact, it is probably less noticeable here than, say, the lang=EN-GB>United Kingdom lang=EN-GB>.

lang=EN-GB>But every time you see a crane blotting the landscape or see
property prices increase sharply, you cannot help but think a minority is
getting wealthier and wealthier while the rest of us barely get by.