Letters to the editor

No thanks to glowing plants
Omri Amirav-Drory is a menace to dark skies (“A glowing green thumb,” SN: 8/24/13, p. 32). Although way too few cities or towns use them, full-cutoff street lights — which project light only downward, where it’s needed — do exist.  Glowing trees will certainly project in every direction, both wasting lumens and aggravating light pollution. If these trees become a reality, and if my town considers planting them, you can be sure I will oppose the move. Keep the glowing plants as curiosities in botanical gardens and protect us from dreamers and visionaries.
K.A. Boriskin, Bellingham, Mass.

There is a problem with using glowing trees to light cities: light pollution. Sky watchers are already up in arms over poorly aimed lighting (see, for example the International Dark-Sky Association, www.darksky.org), and glowing trees as shown in the