Dark Sky

A group of dark sky advocates in New Zealand is actively advocating for a national law to promote dark skies and reduce light pollution. They recently published a document explaining dark skies and making the case for a national law in New Zealand. This month they launched a parliamentary petition to advocate for national legislation [...]

The DLC compiled a list and interactive maps of locations with published outdoor lighting ordinances to mitigate light pollution. These maps show states, provinces, and cities/towns, throughout Canada and the U.S., with outdoor lighting ordinances. States and provinces shaded blue have a statewide/provincewide policy. The round markers indicate cities, towns, and counties with an ordinance. [...]

It has been well documented that artificial light at night (ALAN) can disorient birds and increase bird collisions with buildings, especially windows. The reflectance of windows can lead birds to not realize that windows are solid objects to be avoided. New window film developed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) can prevent deadly bird-window collisions.

The DLC has released a recording of their March webinar about the Impacts of Nighttime Lighting on Ecosystems and Wildlife. They’ve also printed a summary of the webinar information on their website.

A bat ‘superhighway’ with specially tuned lighting has been nominated for a Build Back Better Award., a London-based awards program.

The FLAP program in Toronto was the first to raise awareness of the problem lights pose for birds in an urban center, starting in 1993. In 1999, Audubon and its partners established the first Lights Out program in Chicago. Since then, groups in many other cities have organized programs to make a difference for birds

The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) released the “Artificial Light at Night: State of the Science 2022” report, earlier this month. It is a high-level overview of the best scientific understanding of how artificial light at night affects the nighttime environment. It finds the world transformed by electric light in less than 150 years since its introduction.

The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) is now accepting nomination submissions for their 2022 Awards & Recognition Program.