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“Here, if you see the moon and sun, you are doing OK” – David R. Toeppen

David R. Toeppen, Director of the International Dark-Sky Association, believes most residents within the Mount Prospect area of Illinois share the aforementioned belief that if they can visually see the moon and the sun, that all is well.  Some examples of incidents within Mount Prospect include: “bright streetlights, blazing security bulbs, shopping center spotlights, and even homeowners’ ornamental lights send their beams into the sky.”  Mr. Toeppen’s organization helps facilitate change in understanding light pollution as a growing universal problem. Yet in spite of correlations between light pollution and its detrimental effects on night-time wildlife, nothing happens. Furthermore, correlations between light pollution and its link with breast cancer has done nothing. Hence why Mr. Toeppen has an ace up his sleeve: dimming lights by reducing wattage. Citing a figure from the International Dark-Sky Association, Mr. Toeppen states how unnecessary and wasteful lighting expends our nation $10.4 billion every year. Reduced wattage equates to lower energy bills to consumers. Once one dims the lights via reduction in wattage, one can make the light a full-cutoff light or rather a shielded light. Utilizing both of those practical solutions, people will begin to take notice.