Newt Gingrich is a psychopath that actually once proposed that we abolish night. He proposed that we build a system of mirrors in space that would essentially light up the world after sunset. Of course, light pollution is extremely harmful, despite what big cities might have you believe. Light pollution causes insomnia in humans and disturbs the mating cycles of countless nocturnal species. Also, mirrors do reflect UV, which translates to heat when entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Meaning, the earth would no longer have a cool down period. Also, consider that just about every major religion has been influenced by Astronomy. Imagine trying to tell the Christmas story to your children when your children have never even seen a star. Or imagine explaining the significance of the Crescent and Star to a child who has seen neither. So basically, he wanted you to stop sleeping, wanted to kill off countless species, wanted to destroy the planet in a burning second sun, and wanted to end world religion.
That’s enough politics for the time being; although I meant this to be more about Astronomy. People don’t seem to understand the impact of light pollution, and it is something I will touch more on in this blog in the near future.
This may be a sort of silly question to ask, looking at the ludicrousness of the proposition … but who did he propose would foot the bill for this?
I’m afraid I do not know. I heard about this from the IDA. I’m not likely to spend my time reading books like this one; too many good books out there to read. My understanding is that this was proposed a long time ago.