I believe people should care about normal streets as they care about good personal health. No single thing achieves it, but add up your habits and you can do a lot for yourself. Having good light is part of building healthy communities. Places where people live need more considered light, cleaner light. Achieving that requires not so much money and power but advocacy, people who inform themselves, speak up and suggest alternatives, and who help the larger public recognize that night in the city need not be a time of terror.

Alfred Holden, a copy editor at the Toronto Star, is writing a book about street lighting. He holds a Master of Science degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Vermont.

If you have comments, please email him at alfred.holden@utoronto.ca