Lights out Saturday night!

Remember when you could see stars? Have your kids ever seen the Milky Way? For some reason we have, as a society, decided we need to keep the bulbs burning in our stores and offices when they're empty, and illuminate things that don't really need to be seen at night - like tall buildings.  Too many of our outdoor lights waste energy lighting up dust in the air and the underside of the clouds. That's what causes the skyglow captured in the photo at left, and it erases the stars. It is costing us billions in wasted energy, contributing to climate change and divorcing us from our heritage in the night sky (right).

For one hour beginning at 8:30 local time Saturday night, from Baltimore's City Hall to the Pyramids of Egypt, the lights will go out in a global expression of concern for our planet.

via Maryland Weather: Lights out Saturday night! - Sun reporter Frank Roylance blogs on meteorology - marylandweather.com.

Join in the fun and kill those lights tonight for one hour. Got candles? Birth control? ;-) I'm headed to San Francisco tonight to watch lights out. Seems like the best place, the place with the most lights visible. Hopefully I'll post some before and after pics here from my cell phone in real time as it happens. (Check this site 8:30 PM tonight, west coast time).