I've spent a LOT of time and energy writing letters and statements to fight bad things that have already happened (I think I've written more words for the American Astronomical Society than anything else this year).
Following @susankayequinn's call to action: I need to write this book about satellite pollution! I need to tell these stories and explain this science with the hope it will make the future better.
I've only got 1 meeting today, let's see how much I can write! (This is hard)
But before I dive in to writing, here's something you can do to help save the sky! The FCC is now saying that satellites don't have to follow environmental rules because they are outside the US.
Having seen satellite pieces on the ground, seen them moving across my sky, and knowing the effects of burning them up in the atmosphere, I VERY MUCH DISAGREE.
DarkSky Int'l has posted instructions on how to submit a letter to the FCC **DUE TODAY**
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E-DHPfikf438a3tiWCNeOBThyBjBGFtXuyPcWoUVw1w/edit?usp=sharing
And they've also posted a sample letter you can copy and paste
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hNzocwXJ2nbSiAlnD8CXZdTTGFnZDdpQjAFNmUn8xrk/edit?usp=sharing
And if you live in the US, here's a very simple way to send your representatives a letter telling them that they shouldn't exempt satellites from environmental rules
Proposed rule for reference: [link] Submit a comment: Step 1: Visit [link] Step 2: Select “Express Comment” in the top navigation Step 3: Enter Proceeding: 25-217 “Modernizing the Commission’s National Environmental Policy Act Rules” will be populated Name(s) of Filer(s): [YOUR NAME] Address...
Does stuff like this actually help? Maybe not.
Does it feel good? Yes, yes it does. (Especially if you get to write a letter that's backed by the entire American Astronomical Society like I just did!)
@sundogplanets I know what you mean. I wrote a public comment on the effort to overturn the Roadless Rule yesterday. Deadline for that one is 9/19. They are supposedly legally required to read and consider these comments, but I don't know if it actually makes any difference. From what I've read online from people who have worked on rule changes, they tend to filter and set aside comments that appear to be from fillable forms. So a more personalized message is best.
The Planetary Society does stuff like this, and they say it absolutely does help.
When people write in en masse, there is an influence.
@Bwacton Oh yeah, Canada should absolutely do something like this. But then SpaceX will turn around and say "you know what? The Canadian market is really small, we don't actually need to bother providing services to you." And then we get all the downsides and none of the benefits.
I don't know how to get around that, and apparently neither does the Canadian gov't (who probably doesn't care anyway...sigh)
@sundogplanets didn’t realize the EPA was part of the FCC, but then I also saw the domain darksky.org and thought it was one of the new attempts at federating with Bluesky.
(Once I got over the confusion I did leave a comment)
Prof. Sam Lawler
Joe (TBA)
Martin Vermeer FCD
Lucas C. Wheeler
AI6YR Ben
bjb 
Bruce Acton 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
John Faithfull 🌍🇪🇺🏴🧡✊🏻✊🏿
ShadSterling
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