Had a nice visit here in Tucson today with Jhong-Fu Huang from the Taiwan Dark Sky Association. He is visiting the U.S. on a National Committee on U.S.-China Relations fellowship. We talked about dark-skies efforts in our respective countries and how we can work together more closely.
"'The light pollution from the [Tesla] Gigafactory is freaking nutty.'"
"'I live in a neighborhood very close to it and had to get blackout curtains for my bedroom. On cloudy nights it basically lights up the night sky brighter than a full moon.'"
The #Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and nonprofit group Friends of Nevada Wilderness have unveiled the first #DarkSkies license plate in the U.S. Proceeds from sales of this plate will go towards dark sky monitoring and related programs in rural Nevada.
This pause resulted in no small part because of the comments submitted by McDonald Observatory, the Center for Biological Diversity and DarkSky International, among others. But: "Everything we’ve seen from CBP suggests that they’ll continue to build destructive walls and blast harmful lighting into some of the border region’s wildest places as soon as they get the chance."
The #Illinois Responsible Outdoor Lighting Control Act has been passed by the state Senate and House of Representatives. Now it's on to @govpritzker for his signature.
A new Nature Reviews article by Linares Arroyo et al. gives a comprehensive overview of global light pollution distribution and trends, and efforts to measure and monitor it.
It’s one thing to light up bridges at night (which is already problematic for myriad environmental reasons). But it’s another to use that lighting for partisan reasons to express the state’s position toward a politically disfavored group.
This is using light at night as a tool of political warfare, and it’s wrong.
“The sky shows us the way and the ancestors watch over us. And the stars remind us that they will continue to take care of us as long as we are on this Earth.” (by @megoizzy for BBC Travel)
Lights Out Connecticut and the Menunkatuck Audubon Society are jointly hosting a webinar called "Humans and The Night Sky: Our Lost Heritage" on Tuesday, 4th June at 7 PM EDT (2300 UTC). Register for the event on: https://www.mobilize.us/audubon-chapters/event/628205/
What's in a name? "While ‘artificial lighting’ may seem a fitting descriptor, it falls short in conveying the broader implications of human influence on night-time illumination."
Protecting ALMA’s skies Whitepaper: a study of the risks posed by radio frequency interference (RFI) to ALMA today and in the near future, from both ground-based and space-based sources of radio emissions. The paper identifies the vulnerable points eof the observatory, and discusses and evaluates potential mitigation measures.
"Preserving our dark skies provides economic opportunities, health benefits, reduces energy consumption, maintains cultural values and minimizes disruption to wildlife. It also has produced a thriving astro-tourism industry."
Air and light pollution are both scourges of modern life in many world cities. #AirPollution affects the brightness of the night sky, and #LightPollution at night may make daytime #AirQuality worse. Find out why addressing both issues makes good #PublicPolicy sense.
"The higher overall (but variable) #nocturnal activity in #insect communities underscores the need to address threats such as light pollution and climate warming that may disproportionately impact nocturnal insects."
"If large sections of the Big Bend border were to be lit as they are elsewhere the impact would be immense. It could effectively end the Greater Big Big International Dark Sky Reserve and the binational effort."
New #SustainableTourism research at a rural #tourism destination in Portugal suggests that "tourism is not a sufficient incentive for participants to take individual measures to mitigate light pollution".
A new law in Upper #Austria comes into force on 1st May 2024 that regulates public outdoor lighting, including athletic fields. Features include a 10pm-6am curfew; 3000K CCT limit; and full cut-off requirement with 70° maximum beam angle.
Many people worked on this project over six years, patching together 2.5 million acres of land across multiple owners and managing agencies to create one of the largest dark-sky protected areas on Earth. And they have even bigger plans in the future.
Today is a two-fer, as
DarkSky International also announced the designation of Gantrisch Regional Nature Park, in the cantons of Bern and Fribourg, as the first International Dark Sky Park in Switzerland!
Thanks to Bill and company for having me as a guest on the most recent episode of Light Pollution News along with my esteemed friends and colleagues, Mary Stewart Adams and Dani Robertson. Always a great conversation!
.@sundogplanets: "Get out and enjoy your dark skies, before they change. With proper regulation, our oldest form of space exploration can continue. I desperately hope we never reach a point where the natural patterns in the sky are drowned out by anthropogenic ones, but without regulation, corporations will get us there soon."
"After years of work, Moab is close to submitting its Dark Sky Community Application in March."
An important step given that Moab is the brightest source of light at night in Grand County, Utah. It's also the gateway community to several International Dark Sky Parks in the area.
The disconnect between awareness and action: participants at the Jasper Dark Sky Festival in Alberta, #Canada "had very positive attitudes about protecting dark skies, but only 42% planned to change any behaviors to protect dark skies."