The search for dark skies
LIGHT POLLUTION HAVING ADVERSE EFFECT ON MORE THAN ASTRONOMY FANS
While astronomers are normally concerned with the movements of bodies in the heavens, it is the movements of bodies on the ground that have members of the Lethbridge Astronomy Club most concerned. As the pace of development quickens in the city, and unhooded, broadband LED lights proliferate, there are very few patches of dark sky left where the club can turn its Oldman River Observatory telescopes to get a clear look at the stars.
Not only is this a problem for astronomers, says longtime club member Dwight Jones, it also has broader repercussions for all citizens.
“Back when I first joined the club, you could see the Milky Way from my backyard on the westside,” says Jones. “Where the astronomy centre is now is worse than my backyard used to be 20 years ago. Lack of darkness is bad for peoples’ health and peoples’ lives. You need dark in the night and light in the daytime to set your natural rhythm properly. Some studies show lack of darkness at night affects cancer rates.”
Melody Nagel-Hisey, park area naturalist and west block supervisor with Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park Saskatchewan, says multiple studies have shown too much light pollution has an adverse effect on the health of not just people, but also wildlife.
“In particular here in Cypress, light pollution has a huge impact on mammals in our environment,” she says. “All mammals as well as plant life need a complete circle of complete darkness and daylight hours. That helps them with their immune systems and stresses. It allows for better photosynthesis for the plants, and it keeps everything in this natural cycle. When you have too much light pollution that eats away at that natural cycle for all wildlife.”
Cypress Hills Park became one of the first Dark Sky Preserves in Canada when it made the changeover about 10 years ago. It is now considered one of the best places to see the living night sky on the Prairies. It is home to a first-rate observatory which offers a premium night-time viewing experience for campers, and it plays host to the largest summer star party in Western Canada every August. Nagel-Hisey says on top of the health benefits to eliminating light pollution for a restful sleep in the park, it also helps visitors realize what an increasingly rare natural resource they have in a magnificent night sky.
“It’s an amazing view if you are able to be in a dark environment to look up at the night sky and see nothing but twinkling, shining stars. It just creates that sense of wonder. It makes you think about what else is out there,” she says.
In 2007 the County of Foothills became the first municipality in Alberta to pass a Dark Sky bylaw. The changeover has not been without its challenges, admits Suzanne Oel, a councillor with the county, but thanks to longstanding education programs most citizens are buying in and enjoying the benefits.
“We have developed a program called ‘Dark Sky Country,’” she explains. “We’ve collectively worked as a team to try to promote awareness and we came up with this campaign. We have produced signs, and we have been working on education components. We have seen some exciting things going on in our community as a result of this. We’ve got signs, we’ve got pins we have made, and we use those at various events. We are sharing the reasons why we want to keep the dark sky so we can help people understand what a dark sky is, and what they might do to help.”
The key to success of the county’s Dark Sky Country initiative is incremental change and continuing education, says Oel. It’s unreasonable and costly to expect taxpayers to change over all their lighting fixtures to be Dark Sky friendly all at once, she says, but it is easy to do so over time as light fixtures wear out and are replaced with Dark Sky elements.
One of the simplest things residents can do is put a hood on their lights to ensure the bulbs only shine down, and not up or out to the sides, she says. Another thing is obtain bulbs with lower light temperatures to ensure you are using the minimal amount of light necessary for safety and security.
“Light pollution is something you can do something about, which is really nice,” she says. “It is not something which is so big and bad you can’t affect. We are making progress. Children are learning about it, and they are bringing it home — and I think there is a really great uptake there.”
City of Lethbridge road infrastructure manager Richard Brummund says the City is aware of the problems associated with light pollution and is taking steps.
“All our (roadway) LED lights are 100 per cent Dark Sky compliant; in other words they don’t shine to the sides or up,” he says. “It just shines down, and all of them are like that. And we have a program called the Intelligent Street Lighting/Dimming trial that hopefully this year or next year we are going to get into. What that does is propose to reduce the light at night, at 4 a.m. kind of thing, when you don’t need as much.”
But Brummund admits the City has not gone much beyond that in its efforts to curb light pollution. He hopes the new trial program will be an opportunity to spread public awareness about the issue.
“When we get into this dimming project, I think some of that (community awareness) stuff will come out of it,” he says. “Once we get into that, we are likely going to have an open house to talk about the reasons why we want to do that dimming project.”
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