The PenOpticon

Yeah, I know Earth Hour isn't going to solve the Global Mess we've gotten ourselves into. It's a symbolic gesture, but sometimes symbols are all we have. And when you know you can't fix the world, it's still worth taking on issues that are close to home. 

That's why on March 29th, I'll be at the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario.  For the past 72 years, the Dunlap Observatory has been a place of discovery and wonder for hundreds of astronomers and many thousands of visitors.

When the lights go out in Toronto, we hope to see the same sky that Dunlap's first astronomers saw in 1935.   Unfortunately, this could be the year the David Dunlap Observatory goes dark, forever.  The current owner, the University of Toronto is trying to quickly sell this property to developers. The world is about to lose a historic eye, a powerful eye that has been looking out into space for decades, the same eye that was used by Dr. Tom Bolton in 1972, when he proved the existence of a Black Hole in Cygnus X-1.

If Dunlap closes, my town will also lose a large green space — a much needed urban wilderness — that is home to dozens of bird species, deer, fox, coyote.  Instead we'll have more concrete, more pavement, more noise, more traffic –  and more light pollution. Hundreds of us have been holding rallies, writing letters and attending town meetings to try to convince the University of Toronto to postpone the sale and other levels of government to protect the property.

In the meantime, local residents and groups such as the Richmond Hill Naturalists will continue to fight to save David Dunlap Observatory and the surrounding green space by appearing before the Ontario Conservation Review Board to seek a 100% heritage designation for the property. These same groups are also lobbying York Region to stop plans to widen existing arterial roads such as 16th Avenue to 6 or 7 lanes. 

We need to ask ourselves, our businesses, our governments — and our universities: what is the point? What is the POINT of looking up at the stars if we continue to destroy the Earth beneath our feet?

When hundreds gather at David Dunlap Observatory for this Earth Hour, that question will be blazing in the sky, burning in every star that shines down upon us.

Happy Earth Hour, everyone.