Membership Meeting - Main Speaker Presentation
HAS April Membership Meeting
via ZOOM
Debbie Moran
"Light Right to Bring Back the Night. "
LED light poses special challenges for the night sky or hope depending on how it is used. It is no longer enough just to point light downward. We now need to consider quality of light too to avoid perpetual daytime. We will cover the tools we now have to educate city
officials and the public on how to double down on the advantages of LED lighting for comfortable visibility while best protecting human and animal health and the night sky. You will see examples of what to do and what not to do. This talk is punctuated by engaging videos throughout and will have you looking at night time lighting through new eyes.
Or Speaker – Deborah Moran has had a lifelong interest in astronomy since her childhood in Midland, TX where all the scenery is in the sky. She has been a long time member of the Houston Astronomical Society and has served in a number of capacities there, currently as Novice Chair in charge of programs for new members. She also participates in outreach programs and is a volunteer telescope operator at the George Observatory in Brazos Bend State Park. She is the 2017 recipient of the International Dark-Sky association’s Hoag-Robinson Award for education of government officials about outdoor lighting issues. In 2010, her Woodside neighborhood became the first one within Houston city limits allowed to install low glare fully shielded decorative streetlights. For the past four years she has presented concerns about the choice of high glare white LED street lights in Houston to city officials and hopes that the Houston area will someday join other communities in moving to warm or soft white to amber LEDs which are recommended by the American Medical Association for their reduced glare and reduced disruption of day/night circadian function. She has also lobbied for a lighting ordinance or education program to reduce security light glare and created the web
site www.softlighthouston.com to educate citizens on lighting issues. The site prompted the Houston Police Department to recommend soft shielded lighting.
Deborah retired from the Houston Symphony after 27 years in the violin section.
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Since we're all practicing safe social distancing, we have decided to bring our May Speaker to you virtually through the Zoom online meeting platform! You must register for this presentation in order to attend. You may do so by using the link below:
https://zoom.us/
Please watch your email, as you should also receive an email inviting you attend. The email will include any up to date changes (if any) on meeting times etc. You may also register using the link in the email, however it is only necessary to register once.
We'll have the online chat feature available to us during the talk, and once the presentation is over, we can open up the audio lines for more questions. I'm excited that this we're able to get together in this fashion, and I hope you can join us then. We hope to see you online with us on Friday evening May 1st !
Joe Khalaf
President
Houston Astronomical Society