The Church of England is asking members to cut back on illuminating churches, eight years after embracing a multimillion-pound scheme to install floodlights at 400 places of worship.
A guide endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, states that vicars should try to curb their use of floodlights in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint.
The guide, Don’t Stop at the Lights, suggests that nightly lighting is an extravagance and that illumination should be reserved for special occasions such as sponsored evenings in memory of a loved one or to celebrate an anniversary.
The advice represents a sudden drop in enthusiasm for exterior lighting, which peaked in 2000 when the Millennium Commission awarded £2.3million of lottery money to the Church Floodlighting Trust.
Check the Church of England press release for further information on “Don’t Stop at the Lights”.
A proponent’s view of the Church Lighting Trust is here. Proponents of dark skies call it night blight. At the millennium the scheme was called “a lasting legacy from your Lottery funding.”