International Dark-sky Week

Do you have a lot of outdoor lights? What does your electric bill look like every month?  High?  Low?  Where do you live? The city? Not the city?  What do your night skies look like?  Barely see a few stars? More than a few? A whole starry night?

The answers to all those questions are related to at least one thing: excessive use of light.  Humans put out an incredible amount of light pollution, as if we want to advertise to the universe that we are so wealthy we can afford to light up the night. Of course this isn’t true.  We just like to light up the night, for reasons that have less to do with wealth and more to do with some perceived fear that if we don’t, bad things will happen. Or we won’t sell as many cars, or attract people to our strip malls, or people won’t be able to see how great our leaders are because their monuments won’t be lit up, or whatever it is people need to illuminate. It’s not that these uses of light should be stopped — but they should be done more efficiently, with an eye toward saving money, resources, and the night sky.

The International Dark-sky Association is encouraging people to celebrate better lighting at night by turning off the lights (or at least using them more sensibly) during Dark-sky Week, April 20-26.  The idea is for us all to figure out ways to use our lighting better in the long run — not just to eliminate light pollution, but to make positive contributions to our environment and our own health.  There are a number of studies, which IDA has references to on their extremely useful website, that point out how to better light our properties (with downward facing lights so that light isn’t scattered to the sky), how darkness is important for all forms of life, and how eliminating unnecessary lighting can help us use less energy and reduce pollution. It’s a win-win for everybody, even the folks who feel the need to have security lights (which can be made to work more efficiently and focus exactly where needed, rather than splashily illuminating areas without regard to sensible use).  If you light properly, your electric bills will go down, your community will benefit, and so will you.

So, think about celebrating Dark-sky Week along with millions of people around the world. It’s a great time to assess how you can save money by using good lighting practices, and — as an added bonus — it’s a chance to skygaze at night after you’ve turned off the lights you don’t need. (Obviously, some safety lighting is necessary — make sure that it’s aimed properly and used well.)