The plan to come together? Nah, plan all you want; that's good stuff ~ But! Integrate it with what comes naturally and I think the path taken will be correct (ah, help me not to be too shallow or too deep) ~

The rationale:

As part of the International Year of Astronomy, Dark Skies is a call to draw awareness to a problem that is growing with our population: Part of our current energy waste is a result of lighting architecture; therefore, we can no longer see many of the stars that we should simply because of bad lighting design (ah! Ergonomics!). The light is going everywhere instead of being directed where it is needed; so, it has become a kind of "smog" that hinders our view of the universe (not to mention the glare it causes all of us at night).  Remember when your mom told you to turn out the lights as a kid because you'd otherwise be wasting energy? Well, trying to light the whole universe is futile and a COSMIC waste of energy!

And, besides wasting energy, it's a health hazard! Last month, a local astrophysicist presented a lecture on darkness/sleep and its relationship to cancer (i.e., highly illuminated areas have higher reports of cancer). As it turns out, the pineal gland's melatonin hormone (produced in darkness) is instrumental in retarding the formation of cancerous tumors. This healing hormone's production is, unfortunately, reduced in the presence of the blue part of the light spectrum (from daylight, computer monitors and florescent lights); and, even work hours can be a problem because some people aren't getting enough "darkness" --

"...epidemiological studies of nurses, flight attendants and others who work at night have found breast cancer rates 60 percent above normal, even when other factors such as differences in diet are accounted for.

On the basis of such studies, an arm of the World Health Organization announced in December 2007  its decision to classify shift work as a "probable carcinogen." That put the night shift in the same health-risk category as exposure to such toxic chemicals as trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)."

[Washington Post - 2008]

so,

GET YOUR DARK ON!