Have you experienced the glory of a really dark night sky? April 15 to 22 is International Dark Sky Week. While many of us might wait until our summer camping season, we encourage you to start early and step outside this week and look up. Right now the sun sets around 8 p.m., so you don’t even have to stay up too late to admire the night sky, and when you look up you’ll see almost 3,000 stars with just your eyes.
Turn off your lights. Look up. Can you see the Milky Way, our home galaxy? Which planets can you identify and which constellations?
More than 80% of the world’s population lives under a dome of light pollution and excessive artificial lighting. Did you know Utah has the highest concentration of accredited dark sky parks and communities in the world? Health benefits of dark skies include better sleep and lower levels of stress. Animals also benefit from dark nights. Too much light, the birds and insects get lost and plants are confused about the season. We live in a place where the night sky is still mostly dark. So why care? Light pollution is a waste of energy, roughly $3 billion per year in the United States ,which is about 15 million unnecessary tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
What can you do to change your outdoor lights to protect the night sky? It’s often an easy fix, sometimes just a few dollars, sometimes just elbow grease. Check to see that your lights shine down, not up into the sky or on to your neighbor’s property. Add a shield to direct your light coverage or a motion detector. Simplest of all, turn your lights off.
We are fortunate to live in such a great place. The skies deserve our protection. We applaud Wasatch County, Summit County and Park City for actively working to protect our dark skies. For more information about what you can do, visit www.darksky.org.
Carolyn Wawra and Jeffery Louden
Park City