''Outside''.
''Time:'' 6PM
''Purpose:'' To go to the store to get bread and meat.
I look up. And there...
[[i see the stars ->2]]
I wonder how many people are seeing what [[i'm seeing. -> 1_1]]
It's the first sign of the winter. [[Blackness->1_2]], no clouds.
I feel like i'm a silhouette, two dimensional, and without volume. White lines run across me for vague details.
what an unique [[look to have->3]]
Stars, the sky of a ''gradient blue'', shining down upon us. Blackness, nothing else seen. Everything hiding from [[2<-The light]]
Comes down sudden. No real [[2<-warning]]
I look towards the sky.
##I see the stars.
And here's where i start [[thinking ->4]]
How many people are ''seeing'' what //I'm seeing?//
How many people are able to enjoy an area without [[light pollution? -> 4_1]]
How many people haven't seen the stars, due to buildings, overdeveloped housing or other reasons?
###How many people are looking up, [[right now? -> 5]]
It's weird. It never is an issue here. Well, maybe a bit more in the south, but not so in the north.
Still, even in Helsinki you're able to see the stars [[4<-at night...]]
''During the 90s''
I remember when after //Jurassic Park// came out and I saw it on VHS, how **terrified** i was, when my imagination took hold during those walks home in the dark of the winter.
''There might be something in the bushes'' i thought. ''Can't see'', what if there's something?
It was really cold. And sometimes my friend would walk me halfway home. I appreciated that. And in retrospect, I guess it was due to my fantastic [[imagination ->6]]
####On the ski trail
There are still some [[light -> 6_1]] that aren't fixed. They cause these pockets of [[darkness -> 6_2]] that i see on the trail. Still, people have headlamps and the people with bikes have their lights on.
It's not like i'm in some dangerous city.
And the moon illuminates the [[bushes -> 7]]
The lights are those old kinds. The ones that give the orange hue to the trail. No LED lights here. Some parts of this city [[has them ->6]]
It's not a bad kind of darkness. the sky looks still that pleasant orange-blue gradient. The moon is bright, the stars visible, and i don't feel [[6<-threatned]]
There's nothing in the bushes. This area is weird, there's a [[hiking trail->7_1]] as well as a part of a [[railway->7_2]] and then there's the road leading to the local roadside hypermarket.
Why did they even build it so close? only 20 minute walk away.
The light from the hypermarket is already illuminating the [[night sky->8]]
So many trails. A circle, a square and even one that has a black [[ 7<-on it...]]
It's used by freight trains. The only place it seems to go is to the local factory that makes beds for hospitals and stuff.
Then again, i think i've seen the railroad extend towards the [[ 7<- brewery as well...]]
This is light pollution. This huge building, with it's ads towards the freeway, illuminating and advertising the many stores within. The cold weather feels colder, the wind blows. The stars become invisible, as this aura of light appears around this building made for [[consumerism->9]]
Is this what other people see?
Do they see the stars, or just globs of color, eminating from buildings built for commerce and capitalism?
Is there not any areas where light is spars and the stars are visible?
what is our [[legacy?->10]]
I See the stars: A Story about Light Pollution
Written by L.Loikkanen 2015-2016