Skepticism and More Information
Taking on a project on your own is sort of completely TERRIFYING. It's really easy to slip into a feeling of hopelessness when you have never headed a project before. Thankfully I have an awesome professor who gives us direction when we're feeling lost like this. I expressed my skepticism and he had each and every one of us in the class set up a presentation for precedents. Things that need to be researched before we begin our projects at all. So, I did a little bit of research on darksky.org and came up with the precedents needed for my project. I wanted to share some of that information here.
For starters, I think it is important to identify exactly what light pollution is. The definition of light pollution is "excessive, misdirected, or obtrusive artificial light." Here is a photo depicting light pollution that was taken by a NASA satellite.
Now, another important topic that needs to be addressed is why light pollution poses a problem. To begin with, everyone should be able to see the night sky from where they live. I would classify that as a GOD GIVEN right that anyone who wants to see the night sky, can see the night sky. So why is it that poor planning and wasted energy has taken away something that should be fundamentally given to each and every one of us? How is that fair?
Moving on to a more scientific approach, there a a few biological reasons as to why light pollution is harmful. For starters the bright lights at night manipulate human circadian rhythms. Our melatonin cycles get messed up and severe disorders liek insomnia, or depression can occur as a result.
The second environmental impact that light pollution has on biological systems is fatal attraction for nocturnally migrating birds. The birds will fly over cities at night and then see the lights down below. It is unknown whether the birds get distracted by the lights, or if the reflection of light is associated with water reflecting light, but nonetheless they fly down towards the lights. Once down in the city, many birds fly into windows and die on impact. This happens enough that the birds can be counted and archived, and the species of bird is also taken into account. This pattern could be stopped if dark sky compliant fixtures were installed in cities, so that the light would shine down, and not up.
Another biological problem that is caused by light pollution is causing the death of newly hatched sea turtles. These babies are born with the instinct to go towards the direction with the most light, because that used to be the moon and stars shining over the open ocean, btu now it is the light coming from the cities. So, the turtles go towards the cities and never make it to the water. Again, if proper light fixtures were used to replace ones that shine onto the beaches, this problem would disappear.
During my research I discovered that there are different classifications for dark sky friendly places. There are dark sky parks, communities, and reserves. All of the reserves are outside of the US in France, Germany, Canada, the UK, and Namibia. The parks are national parks located in the US and I am PROUD to say that the first one was founded right here at home in Utah. It is the Natural Bridges National Monument and it was founded in 2007. There is another dark sky park in Utah, but half is in Colorado! Still, it is really cool to have so many here at home and to know that we are making moves towards it!
Only 8 states in the US have adopted night sky regulations, but it is better than nothing! One thing that I think would be really great is if the University of Utah could become a dark sky community. I don't know if it is within the jurisdiction, but I still think if we could make that happen it would ultimately be a huge step for Utah becoming completely night sky compliant! On the map posted earlier in this post Utah seems to be one of the darker places in the US, but as a whole we are doing pretty shitty as a country. Australia and Africa are doing really well, but I think that Africa is doing as well as they are because there are so many underdeveloped countries. We need to be the leaders in the world for stopping light pollution, and it all starts here on campus!
