Greetings!
What do we lose when we lose dark sky? To those lucky enough to have experienced natural darkness, the answers are clear. For the majority, it may not be so obvious. We are taught that darkness is where the danger hides. Yet, natural darkness has always been a powerful source of inspiration to our species.
Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night is one of the most famous paintings in the world, countless songs and poems reference the night and the cosmos, and mankind's journey to the moon is considered to be one of our greatest feats as a species. Others have spoken about the ecological effects of artificial light. Despite the importance of these issues, here we will be more human-centric. As an astrophile, my motivation to preserve the night is inspired by the beautiful wildness of a starry sky. It fuels my curiosity. Those of us who love the night have our own reasons. In this blog, you have an opportunity to share your night sky inspirations and experience a variety of others.
Note the categories listed in the tabs above. Share some of your favorite paintings, photos, quotes, poems, movies, inventions, etc. that have been inspired by the night! Post one or five-hundred, just make sure that they are in the appropriate sections. This is a chance to simply show what we lose when we lose darkness. Please, feel free to share anything you have created, in addition to the works of others! Just keep in mind that everything on a public blog is considered public domain. Please, do not include any copyrighted material, though you can reference or link to it.
If you would like to share a personal perspective on the matter at hand, write a few words about your motivation for protecting our dark sky in the comment section below. Please, keep this to less than 50 words.
Last but certainly not least, if you have ideas on how to preserve the night, post them in the last tab. The main post on that page gives some ideas on energy-efficient outdoor safety lighting that protects dark skies as well as our streets.
Anyone may post, but make sure that the post is detailed enough that people can use it to identify things that might interest them and can also do more research using the information you provide.
May beautiful skies always follow you!
-Kate
