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VIDEO: Taiwan’s first dark sky park removes lighting to protect environment

  • 27 August, 2020
  • Paula Chao
VIDEO: Taiwan’s first dark sky park removes lighting to protect environment

The central county of Nantou has removed lamps from its Hehuan Mountain Dark Sky Park. That’s after public outcry over light pollution.

Hehuan Mountain Dark Sky Park became Taiwan’s first dark sky park and Asia’s third last August, when it was accredited by the International Dark-Sky Association.

Hehuan Mountain Dark Sky Park is a great place to admire the stars—in theory at least. Some visitors have complained that despite the name, the park is far from being as dark as advertised.

The culprit? 25 streetlamps installed in the park’s parking lot. After public outcry about light pollution, the lamps have been removed. But while views of the night sky are now free from the danger of light pollution, could pedestrians and motorists be at risk instead? Nantou County official Lin Hsiu-mei has  promised to study the matter further, and find a solution based on the principle of “dark sky, light ground.”An expert on astronomy, Liu Chih-an, says the county government can circumvent all the controversy by simply marking pedestrian paths in the park. 

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