The Movement to Save Our Night Skies 

Another bonus not mentioned, is how by reducing light usage and brightness it also conserves energy, thus reducing carbon footprint.

Let’s get our night skies back ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰

Something I learned when trying to inform people about dark sky lighting is that you have to be super crystal clear about the topic, because it’s so easy for people to not understand, to think that you’re advocating for turning off all the lights. It’s emotionally-charged too, with people being concerned about safety and security. All that being said, I’m always a little overwhelmed by the beauty of the night sky whenever I make the 2-hour drive out to the desert. I’m also always a bit depressed when I drive home, and the skyglow returns to erase most of the stars I just saw in the desert. It’s like somebody covered a beautiful painting with graffiti.

How wonderful that more people are joining the dark sky movement and appreciating the value of darkness at night and the starry skies above. Preserving and protecting our nocturnal environment is so incredibly important!

I have been to places that have light pollution laws. The skys are amazing in those places.

Dark skies are important to people psychologically. I know we can't remove light pollution, but we can make the situation better.

Not being able to go and see the night sky makes my heart hurt. I hope we all get to experience what our ancestors took for granted.

As a child one of my favorite things to do was grab up a blanket and go spread it out in the grass at night so we could watch the sky. We lived miles from any town so we had a great view. Where I live now I don’t even know where I could go to find a place I could see the sky like that again.

You might take a look at Flagstaff, AZ, and its comparatively stunning success at successfully preserving dark skies. It's the world's primo example of how to gently educate people (including city and state officials) and implement effective policy.

I remembered meeting someone at a campsite, this fella grew up in a big city, where he had never seen the night sky full of stars, until he travels. He spent literally 2 weeks at the campsite just for the night sky.

Motion detector activated lights would be great for the dark skies movement. Light turns on when it's needed then off when it's not.

My 3rd grade teacher (2004-2005) told us about this, I still remember it like it was yesterday. She explained that this was the reason the Kitt Peak observatory (Southern Arizona near Tucson)was built where it was.

Thank you for covering this! In Kansas City, our light pollution is getting worse by the year! Very noticeable in my neighborhood, as we used to have spectacular lightning bugs, and I think the light pollution has really lessened them.😢

The most light polluted place that I ever visited was Madrid, Spain. There was not a single star to be seen, and I did not even see the moon, but the sky was actually like a piece of black velvet. I found it quite unnerving. Where I live is not the darkest, but I'm used to seeing lots of stars. When I had a holiday in a truly dark place, I was stunned by not just the amount of stars, but also by the actual amount of light. It showed me that, on a clear night, there was no need for any articial light.

So important, thank you. Birds no longer nest in my trees because of lights, plants in my yard can't thrive, fireflies have disappeared--all because the local electric company has installed over-bright lights all over the place for crime deterrent--even though they're low pressure sodium.

In high school when I used to go abalone diving off the sonoma coast with my dad, we'd drive up at 2am and take a break around 4am. Omg the most incredible night sky I had ever seen in my life. It's incredible how bright the night sky is. The most memorable night I actually stayed up during the drive, we saw a meteor shower, the most amazing starscape and a moon set on the same night. Nothing the sun does can compare to be honest. 😅

I heard that one time, during a power failure in LA, people were calling 911 in panic. They thought the milky way was invading aliens.

My parents and I took a trip to Maine quite a few years ago. When we were travelling at night from one location to another, we passed through an area that had no light pollution. We had to pull the car over and just look up and marvel at what we saw. Where we live, stars can be seen but it's nowhere near what we were witnessing that night. And, it just happened to be at a time of year when there was a meteor shower. There were thousands of them, just constantly streaking by, nonstop. We'd never seen the sky look so spectacular. We could see the Milky Way, as well. It was beautiful. I can understand how ancient peoples were awed, and even somewhat fearful, of the night sky and just imagined all kinds of dramas taking place "up there." Would love to always be able to see this. I think humans have become so disconnected from our home planet, nature, and our universe and it makes us a not very pleasant species. (They're not disconnected *everywhere* , of course). We need to feel that connection again.

I live in the outskirts of a city, population around 2 million, in Australia. We still have reasonably dark skies. I remember having a teenager from Tokyo staying with us a while back. It took us a while to convince him to go outside at night. Then we couldn't get him back in! I am sure a lot of flat earth believers are people who have never watched the stars going around the celestial poles.

Down-lighting is also more aesthetically pleasing to humans. It allows your pupils to relax and open. The stars are beautiful (if you are allowed to see them).

we need to let things be closed more. shop less. tell each other stories outside more. love the sky and the earth under it, before it is too late

Lovely if we could pay attention to sound pollution as well for the sake of wild life and our own sanity. Lawn movers, leaf blowers, air conditioning units, un-necessarily loud backup signals on vans, etc.

Thank you for bringing up this subject. I consider myself really environmentally friendly but I never thought about light pollution. Will be adding this to the list of things I can do immediately to make a difference!

I am so glad you created this. I have memories from my childhood of a night sky I haven't seen in years. I realized due to the development in the area, there are children who have never trully seen the sky at night. It's just a dark blue with a few specs of light now. It's so sad they can't look up and get a true "feel" for the planet. It totally helps explain why we have so many flat-earthers.

i hope this catches on. going up to san jose from long beach CA, i stopped off at ragged point inn for the night. i got there at around 10:00 PM and as i got out of the car i ducked. seriously, nothing around there for miles and miles and miles, and the night sky was so close i reacted like i was going to bump my head against the stars.

I lived in a small town in Quebec and there was zero light pollution and it was magnificent to behold especially in the fall. Meanwhile back here in Philly you can’t see anything 😢

I grew up in Belgium and when I was a kid 15 years ago we used to have these eye-burning sodium orange lamps streetlights everywhere, along every highway, on every street, and as a result the sky was always drowned in this orange hue at night (especially when cloudy or rainy) and our country appeared like a bright orange megapolis from space. I remember looking at the sky as a child and counting no more than 10 stars in this grey-orange sea. But now in the last few years, our government replaced most sodium lamps with dimmer crispy-clear white LEDs that just illuminate the road and much less the atmosphere around it, and man the difference is crazy. I can go out in my backyard and when the sky is clear I can see thousands of stars, every constellation, even the Andromeda galaxy appears as a smudge with binoculars. There's still improvement to be made as the milky way is still barely discernible (like a very slightly greyer area on a darker one), but the difference is amazing.

My family used to not really think about or care about outside lights until I got older and we moved out into the country. Since spending countless hours and nights (especially during the holidays) stargazing, now we all try to keep the lights off at our homes. If more people turned off the lights & installed covers to direct the light down towards the ground, they'd not only save money but darken the night sky. Love this video!!

THIS !!!!!! THISS SOOO MUCH !!! THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!! I have been struggling to visit a place in Germany where I can see a single star. I remember the sky being almost white as a child living in a remote village it's soo beautiful.

I grew up living in the countryside outside of a small town. I always loved to go outside at night and stare up at the stars. You could see the light pollution of the town on one horizon, but you still got to see most of the glory and wonder of the starry sky. As an adult I live inside a mid-sized city. I never wanted to live in a city, but this was where the jobs were. Now when I go outside at night all I can see is the Moon (if I'm lucky), the lights of planes flying overhead, and satellites. It breaks my heart and feels as if I've lost a piece of my soul. I commonly muter angrily, "They've stolen the stars from me." I can't imagine being a kid growing up here and only seeing the stars in pictures. Stargazing has been something innately human since before history began and it's tragic that it's been stolen from so many people, especially children.

I've recently wondered while driving on my city's ring road where only motor vehicles are allowed to be, "why do we need all these streetlights? Doesn't everybody's vehicle have headlights?"

You guys should ask some product designers to help design the cheapest, most hassle-free, and most effective shields to put on existing lights. Money and hassle are always the deciding factors when trying to introduce changes into society. But all in all, this is a great project and I hope more people get on board!

I remember back in my home country Philippines, In my province Bicol. we went to this island that no electricity at all. then spend overnight to hike and just do some environmental lessons to be aware of what’s goin on our planet, specifically climate change, and global warming that affects the local communities. I was stunned by the night sky 🌌 and so beautiful. Like it surreal. I experienced it again, when I used to lived washing state. We went hiking to this beautiful mountain and wait for night to watch the night sky and cherry on the top is the slow music. Damnnnn I miss it so much.

I've spent almost 3 years living on and off in the Colorado mountains near Westcliffe. Everytime I am up there I am wishing for my people back home to experience a blackout. This way they could also make this experience for once. Despite light pollution there are also a lot of unnecessary lights that use energy without any useful purpose. It's not gonna solve all of our man-made climate change problems but reducing those unnecessary lights can be a good contribution.

A real community effort 😃

I moved from Pennsylvania to New Mexico in 1996. I almost fainted the first time I saw the actual night sky. I had to quickly sit on the ground. I never knew how colorful it was or how many stars there were. It's the most beautiful thing. It still stops me in my tracks when I see it.

I'm in Singapore, the country with the highest light pollution, and I hope more awareness and education is implemented for everyone here. We do not have the four seasons' cyclical rhythm (like slowing down in autumn and winter) which imo contributes to the hustle work culture in recent years. People can choose to work at night, turn on the lights and air con like crazy. Several wild creatures are crossing our roads and entering neighbourhoods, and I think that's a signal for change. Again many residents don't know how light pollution works beyond the vague statement of "oh it's just artificial light affecting sleep", "ok, so light conservation" or "but night life at downtown!" Just like in this video, I will love to see a much toned-down and dimmer-lit night sky as when necessary, not like pitch dark everyday lah :(

I live between two certified dark sky preserves. I regularly travel the 3-4 hours it takes to get there. The natural beauty of the places they're in rivals the natural beauty of the full night sky.

Great job spreading the word. Big cities have gotten so bad with their light pollution. Time to take back our skies!

11:26 all those kilowatts being saved. Cha-Ching how much cost savings is that?

Gees i think id do anything to just be able to look up and see our nights sky with no light pollution. CAN YOU IMAGINE. Would be the new talk of the town if everyone experienced it together. Make it happen DAMMIT. Who's with me 🔭

More than ten years ago in June, even if my home was located in the city, I could still see the Milky Way (the center of the Milky Way in Scorpio) with the naked eye on a cloudless night. Now most of the street lights have been changed to white LEDs, and it is becoming less and less visible. 😔

we need more people to realize something amazing we miss every nigght

I grew up on the border of RI and MA . Never really seen the sky till i moved to Maine’s mountains.

Let’s openly love nature more 😢

Should have called the birdradar Birdar.

And hey we can save energy so others can use it or just have bad energy plants can be turned into good energy plants

looking at a proper night sky, actually has a big connection to our humanity

Utterly amazing although unrealistic, I hope someday Warsaw will take up this initiative!

This is a real issue that humanity can actually solve. Light pollution is a major problem.

Up here where I am at,,, northern Wi, ,,middle of a ,,forest ,, the only reason I have a dim outside lite on is,,, so I don't trip over a bear , when I walk out of the garage

That woman really said that she disagreed with the dark skies. Jesus, talk about ME ME ME mentality.

In China it can be hard to see any stars uf you live in a city. My boyfriend rented a room to a young man from China. He came to get his degree. The first night here he ran outside to see the stars. He was so excited! I hope someday he got to go to the country side to see a way more beautiful show than our city could offer.

My dad is an astrophysics prof so I’ve heard him lament over how many research telescopes become less useful if a formerly isolated areas like in deserts and mountains become developed, which aleays means an increase of „civilized” lamp posts and streetlights.

it was probably our distant ancestors looking up at the sky, particularly the night sky, and wondering, that set humanity on the path to where we are now. we are children of this planet, who seem, in the pursuit of our selfish "needs", to have forgotten that.

I've always hated that intense white, near blue lighting. I'm very happy with my Hue setup. As soon as the sun goes down I set it to a deep dark orange, and on very low power. Any displays are set up to be on the lowest possible brightness setting as well. Your eyes acclimate just fine to it. Visiting a friends' house, my eyes pretty much hurt because of the intense sharp light.

We should also plan to reduce unnecessary noise.

I love to see the results of dark skies. I live in small town Oklahoma and feel it's a hard sell to get the needed changes. What are some things, big or small, that light environmentalists can do in small towns to make progress?

It's so sad to me that some people never see the drama and beauty of a night sky. I can't imagine my life without stepping out my backdoor to them.

For centuries, people have looked up at the night sky for inspiration, wonder, and guidance. The stars and constellations have been used to navigate the seas, tell stories, and even predict the future.

So cool! This made me very optimistic

Please keep this going!!!

Thank you - Great video.

Wow! We can turn cities into mountains! Never heard of this tech. Need to learn more.

I wish we could get more of this thinking in Florida.

Great job! Greetings from Uruapan😂

When I hear people ignorantly and flippantly saying, "Don't tell me what to do, this is "amerca"", I become very happy as soon as I get away from them. The same goes for most extremes.

Interesting, I recently moved to a city and can't stand the bright nights. I wanna move back to the middle of nowhere

wow!!! love this!!

I'm so on board with this!!

I absolutely hate how everywhere you go people have lights on at all hours of the night night. Why? Whats the point?

I am 100% behind all of this, but this is not an idea that is going to just sweep the nation. Two years ago the small Ohio community I live in decided to convert all street lights to white-full spectrum LED. I talked with our city counsel before the change had started, and explained much of what this video talks about. I had the added authority of being a Ph.D. astronomer, and so fully understanding light, the visible spectrum, and human perception of light. I was completely ignored. Within a year they had converted all of the public lighting in town to white-full spectrum (not just the street lights) and bragged about how for the same electricity usage they could make our city so much brighter at night. I fully believe the only way to fix this problem is for a federal band on this type of outdoor lighting with threat of the rescinding of certain federal funds to states that refuse to comply, because there will definitely be states and communities that will refuse to comply just like mine did.

Would be nice to have that in Finland too. I live 20km away from the capital and heres like bortle 8. Dimmest star i can see has like magnitude of 5

I can see how this would be an issue for some individuals. Occasionally I would like to have lights on when having company over, and I wouldn't want a law preventing my occasional Fiesta. Another nice feature to dark nights are a return of our circadian clocks.

I love Paonia!

Human beings are diurnal species which means that we are evolved to function according to a biological clock of day and night. Light pollution disrupts this rhythm and consequently there are many health effects of light pollution such as sleep disorders, increased anxiety, headaches and fatigue.

Watching this from a tent in Terlingua Ranch, TX 😉

The ancients did so much with the night sky as they saw it so clearly

The best way to reach people who are reluctant to turn their lights down is with an economic one. Efficient lighting will cut down on their electric bills. Plus the less ambient light, the better one's sleep will be. People ultimately act out of self interest regardless of anything else.

what about human's safety (from other people) at night? statistically there is a correlation between high crimes rates and dark areas of cities. Could there be a light bulb configuration technology they would reduce the upward light glow (beside tghe shades)?

I'm kinda worried about the earth beneath our feet. Still, light pollution laws in my home town got rolled back by...wait for it..."imported" politicians helping developers.😢Seriously, as an indigenous woman, I hope the skies are not filled with cars and ads & anything that stops THAT: 👏

The last time I saw the night sky without light pollution was in '95 in North Georgia.

Light pollution can also have a negative impact on local economies. Studies have shown that businesses in areas with high levels of light pollution tend to have lower sales and revenue.

People should refuse to buy goods advertised on ever-lit billboards. And to visit ever-lit malls.

Those scientists need a 'dark mode' for their software ;-)

Have any of these dark sky communities noticed an increase in crime at night? Safety has been the justification for lights in the past.

I studied Astronomy, I strongly agree.

9:40 - "we rather educate people and they will make the right decision..." -- Covid period in USA worked out great due to all the news/ education (sarcastic)

And those starlink satellites aren’t helping either.

I’ve never seen the Milky Way. It’s on my bucket list

I wonder about East San Jose. The tungsten lamps were in use because of the observatory on Mt. Hamilton, only ESJ. I won't pretend to understand why the Bay Area has so much light pollution. Everyone wants to see the stars, it's a crime that normal folx cannot commune with the rest of the universe properly, visually. ❤

Fuckin' amazing!! Excellent!!!

What if we had motion sensor lights that changed color temperature based on how close or far you are from the light?

I live nearby Tucson, and its light pollution. As Tucson grows, it gets worse. New development, new people are the problem.

It's like a new aesthetics movement.

❤

I know in Philly, there was a big push during migrations for the office buildings to turn their lights off.

Is a good idea to conserve the nature in my city (Chivilcoy) Argentina. My Major put LED light and that light is worst than the yellow light with the pretext ot the beauty and low the delits.

In my case ignorance is a bliss I had no idea what the night sky was supposed to look like to begin with. It wasn't until the recent years I saw some pictures of a night sky and it's very different from when I generally look up at the sky. It's just blackness and sometimes a shiny moon. I think many people don't realize what the night sky really looks like because we've never seen it. If you spend your entire life in a big city you won't. In the end it boils down to would it enrich my life, probably not. There are so many things in life that you don't have and you just make due and move on.

Disrupted sleep: Exposure to artificial light at night can suppress the production of melatonin, a hormone that helps to regulate sleep. This can lead to sleep deprivation, which can cause a number of health problems, including fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and irritability.