Factory lights flooded my Andromeda photo last night. It's frustrating how much we're losing to light pollution. Any local success stories for dark sky zones?

4 comments

4 Comments

I read that Flagstaff, Arizona was the first city to pass dark sky rules way back in the 1950s. They have special streetlights that don't spill light upward, so astronomers at the Lowell Observatory can still work. It's crazy how one town's choice protects the night for everyone. Why do we keep putting up those bright, unshielded lights in new developments? I heard a county in Michigan just got a dark sky park status by getting residents to use warmer, dimmer outdoor bulbs. Sometimes it feels like we're adding more glare every year instead of fixing it.

eva_craig501mo ago

Guess I'm part of the problem with my porch light on all night... it's like a beacon for bugs. Reading @caleb_fisher44's take on new developments hits home though. We could fix this if more places copied Flagstaff's simple ideas.

caleb_fisher441mo ago

Shocked to hear Flagstaff made those rules back in the 1950s, sarah_fisher49. They were dealing with light pollution before most places even had streetlights. Now we keep building new developments with the same harsh, unshielded fixtures. It makes Michigan's dark sky park feel like catching up instead of moving forward.

stone.lisa1mo ago

Reading that Flagstaff started in the 1950s is just wild to me. They saw the problem before most towns even had a full set of streetlights. It makes @sarah_fisher49's point about new developments using bad lights even more frustrating. We have known how to fix this for over seventy years and still choose the cheap, bright option. My own town council laughs off the idea of shielded fixtures, saying it's not a real issue.