2026-01-29 Dark Skies: Fighting Light Pollution for Wildlife and Wellbeing
Dark Skies: Fighting Light Pollution for Wildlife and Wellbeing
For billions of years, life on Earth evolved under a predictable cycle of light and darkness governed by the sun, moon, and stars. Nocturnal animals hunted under starlight. Migratory birds navigated by constellations. Sea turtle hatchlings followed the moonlit horizon to the ocean. Insects oriented by the glow of the moon. Plants set their flowering schedules by day length. Human circadian rhythms synchronized with the natural transition from day to night. Then, in a geological instant, artificial light transformed the nighttime environment so dramatically that more than 80 percent of the world’s population now lives under light-polluted skies, and a third of humanity can no longer see the Milky Way from where they live. This is not merely an aesthetic loss, though the erasure of the night sky from human experience represents a profound cultural impoverishment. Light pollution is an environmental crisis with cascading consequences for wildlife, human health, energy consumption, and the fundamental ecological processes that sustain life on this planet. At the Rissover Foundation, we recognize that protecting dark skies is not a niche concern for astronomers but a critical conservation priority that intersects with wildlife protection, public health, energy efficiency, and the preservation of our shared natural heritage.
The Scope of Light Pollution
Light pollution refers to the excessive, misdirected, or obtrusive use of artificial light that alters the natural conditions of the nighttime environment. Unlike many forms of pollution that accumulate slowly and persist for years, light pollution is immediately reversible when lights are turned off or properly shielded. Yet despite this reversibility, the problem continues to worsen at an alarming rate, with global light pollution increasing by approximately two percent per year as urbanization expands and outdoor lighting proliferates across both developed and developing nations.
The phenomenon takes several distinct forms, each with different causes and consequences. Skyglow is the brightening of the night sky over populated areas, caused by light scattered in the atmosphere that creates the familiar orange or white dome visible above cities from miles away. Skyglow is the primary reason that urban residents cannot see stars and is the most geographically extensive form of light pollution, affecting areas far beyond the boundaries of the light sources that create it. Satellite measurements have shown that skyglow extends hundreds of miles from major metropolitan areas, affecting wilderness areas and wildlife habitats that appear remote on a map.
Glare refers to excessive brightness that causes visual discomfort and actually reduces visibility rather than enhancing it. Unshielded streetlights, overly bright commercial signage, and poorly aimed security lights create glare that makes it harder for drivers to see pedestrians and obstacles, undermining the very safety goals that motivate outdoor lighting in the first place. The irony of glare is that more light does not equal better visibility; properly designed lighting that directs appropriate amounts of light where it is needed while minimizing stray light produces better visual conditions with less energy consumption.
Light trespass occurs when unwanted artificial light spills beyond the boundaries where it is intended, illuminating neighboring properties, entering bedroom windows, and disrupting sleep. A single unshielded floodlight on a commercial property can cast light hundreds of feet into surrounding residential areas, affecting the sleep quality and quality of life of dozens of families. Light trespass represents a growing source of neighbor conflicts and community tension in suburban and rural areas where new development brings lighting standards designed for urban environments.
The transition from traditional lighting technologies to light-emitting diodes has brought both opportunities and challenges for light pollution. LED lights are dramatically more energy-efficient than the incandescent and sodium-vapor technologies they replace, potentially reducing the energy consumption and carbon footprint of outdoor lighting. However, the cost savings associated with LED efficiency have often led to increased lighting installation and brightness, a phenomenon economists call the rebound effect, where efficiency gains are offset by increased consumption. Additionally, many LED fixtures emit light with a high blue-spectrum content that is particularly disruptive to biological systems and contributes disproportionately to skyglow.
Impacts on Wildlife: Birds in Peril
The effects of artificial light at night on bird populations represent one of the most well-documented and alarming consequences of light pollution. Birds that migrate at night, which includes the majority of migratory songbird species, navigate partly by reference to stars and the earth’s magnetic field. Artificial light disrupts both of these navigation systems, causing birds to become disoriented, attracted to illuminated structures, and diverted from their migration routes with often fatal consequences.
Building collisions caused by light attraction kill an estimated 600 million to one billion birds annually in the United States alone, making light-related collisions one of the largest sources of human-caused bird mortality after habitat loss and outdoor cats. Brightly lit buildings, communication towers, and other structures act as traps for migrating birds, particularly during foggy or overcast conditions when artificial light is more visible and natural celestial cues are obscured. Birds circle illuminated structures until they collapse from exhaustion or collide with buildings, windows, or each other.
Coastal and offshore lighting affects seabirds that evolved to navigate by moonlight and starlight over open ocean. Brightly lit offshore oil platforms, fishing vessels, and coastal developments attract and disorient seabirds, leading to collisions, strandings, and disrupted foraging behavior. Petrels, shearwaters, and other species that come to shore only at night to tend their nests are particularly vulnerable to disorientation by artificial light near nesting colonies.
Urban light pollution disrupts the reproductive behavior of birds even when it does not cause direct mortality. Studies have shown that birds in light-polluted areas begin singing earlier in the morning, sometimes hours before dawn, which affects their sleep patterns and energy budgets. Artificial light can cause birds to begin breeding earlier in the season, potentially creating mismatches between the timing of chick-rearing and peak food availability. Robins in urban areas exposed to streetlights have been found to begin nesting several weeks earlier than their rural counterparts, with potential consequences for reproductive success.
Lights Out programs in major cities have demonstrated that reducing building illumination during peak migration periods can dramatically reduce bird mortality. Cities including New York, Chicago, Toronto, and Houston have implemented voluntary or mandatory lights-out programs that ask building managers to extinguish or reduce non-essential lighting during spring and fall migration seasons. These programs have documented significant reductions in bird collisions while saving energy and raising public awareness about the connection between lighting decisions and wildlife conservation.
Insects, Sea Turtles, and Broader Ecological Disruption
The impact of artificial light extends far beyond birds to affect virtually every group of animals that is active at night or relies on natural light cues for critical biological functions. The cumulative effect of these disruptions ripples through ecosystems in ways that scientists are only beginning to fully understand.
Insects are perhaps the most profoundly affected group of organisms, with artificial light acting as a massive ecological trap that draws nocturnal insects away from their natural habitats and behaviors. The familiar sight of moths circling a porch light represents a fatal attraction that removes countless insects from the ecosystem every night, preventing them from pollinating plants, serving as food for other animals, or reproducing. Studies have estimated that outdoor lighting in Germany alone kills approximately 100 billion insects per year, contributing to the well-documented decline in insect populations that has alarmed ecologists worldwide.
The loss of nocturnal insects has cascading ecological consequences because insects serve as pollinators for many plant species, as food sources for birds, bats, amphibians, and other animals, and as decomposers that recycle organic matter into soil nutrients. When artificial light removes insects from the ecosystem, the effects propagate through food webs in ways that diminish biodiversity and ecosystem function. Night-blooming plants that depend on moth pollination may produce fewer seeds, bat populations that rely on insect prey may decline, and soil fertility may be affected by reduced decomposition.
Sea turtles provide some of the most dramatic and well-studied examples of light pollution’s impact on wildlife. Female sea turtles that come ashore to nest are deterred by bright coastal lighting, forcing them to seek darker, often less suitable nesting locations or abandon nesting attempts entirely. Hatchlings, which have evolved to orient toward the brightest horizon (which under natural conditions is the ocean reflecting moonlight and starlight), become fatally disoriented by artificial light, crawling toward roads, parking lots, and developed areas instead of the sea. An estimated millions of hatchlings are killed or disoriented by coastal lighting each year, contributing to population declines in species that are already threatened or endangered.
Amphibians including frogs and salamanders are affected by artificial light through disrupted breeding behavior, altered predator-prey dynamics, and suppressed immune function. Frogs that call at night to attract mates may reduce their calling activity in artificially lit areas, potentially reducing reproductive success. Some species of frogs avoid illuminated areas entirely, effectively shrinking their available habitat in light-polluted landscapes.
Marine ecosystems experience light pollution through the disruption of vertical migration, a daily phenomenon in which zooplankton and small fish move toward the ocean surface at night to feed and descend to deeper waters during the day to avoid predators. Artificial light from coastal development, offshore platforms, and vessels can suppress this migration, reducing feeding opportunities for small organisms and altering the distribution of prey species throughout the water column. This disruption affects the ocean food web from microscopic plankton to large predatory fish and marine mammals.
Mammals including bats, which provide invaluable ecosystem services through insect control, pollination, and seed dispersal, are affected by artificial light in complex ways. Some bat species avoid lit areas entirely, losing access to foraging habitat around streetlights and illuminated buildings. Other species may initially benefit from concentrations of insects around lights but face increased predation risk from owls and other predators that exploit the illumination. The net effect on bat populations is generally negative, particularly for light-sensitive species that are excluded from expanding areas of artificial illumination.
Human Health Effects
The health consequences of light pollution for humans are increasingly well-documented and represent a growing concern for public health researchers and medical professionals. The fundamental issue is that artificial light at night disrupts the human circadian system, the internal biological clock that regulates sleep, hormone production, metabolism, and immune function in response to the natural cycle of light and darkness.
Melatonin suppression is the primary mechanism through which artificial light at night affects human health. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland during darkness that regulates sleep timing and quality while also serving as a powerful antioxidant and immune system modulator. Exposure to artificial light at night, particularly light with blue-spectrum wavelengths, suppresses melatonin production and delays its release, disrupting sleep architecture and reducing the body’s ability to repair cellular damage during sleep.
Sleep disruption caused by light pollution affects millions of people, particularly those whose bedroom windows face streetlights, commercial signage, or other sources of outdoor illumination. Even low levels of light intrusion can reduce sleep quality by preventing the complete darkness that supports optimal melatonin production and deep sleep stages. Chronic sleep disruption is associated with increased risks of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, depression, and cognitive impairment, making light-related sleep disturbance a significant public health concern.
Research has identified associations between chronic exposure to artificial light at night and increased risks of several types of cancer, particularly breast and prostate cancer. The proposed mechanism involves melatonin suppression, since melatonin has anti-cancer properties including the ability to slow tumor growth and reduce oxidative stress. Studies of shift workers who experience chronic circadian disruption have found elevated cancer risks, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified nighttime shift work involving circadian disruption as a probable carcinogen.
Metabolic disruption caused by circadian interference contributes to obesity and diabetes risk. The circadian system regulates insulin sensitivity, glucose metabolism, and appetite hormones in ways that are optimized for daytime eating and nighttime fasting. Artificial light at night disrupts these metabolic rhythms, potentially contributing to the global epidemic of metabolic disorders. Research in animal models has shown that chronic exposure to dim light at night causes weight gain even without changes in diet or activity level, suggesting that light pollution may be an underrecognized contributor to metabolic disease.
Mental health effects of light pollution include increased rates of depression and anxiety, particularly seasonal affective disorder and other mood disorders that are linked to circadian disruption. The disruption of natural light-dark cycles interferes with serotonin production and the regulation of stress hormones, contributing to mood disturbances that are often treated with medications when the underlying environmental cause remains unaddressed.
Children may be particularly vulnerable to the health effects of light pollution because their developing circadian systems are more sensitive to light exposure and because childhood sleep quality affects growth, cognitive development, and emotional regulation. Nighttime light exposure in children has been associated with delayed puberty onset, increased myopia risk, and attention difficulties, though research in this area is still emerging.
Dark Sky Preserves: Protecting the Night
Dark sky preserves and reserves represent one of the most tangible and successful strategies for protecting natural darkness as a conservation resource. These designated areas implement strict lighting regulations and management practices to maintain or restore dark nighttime conditions while providing protected spaces where people can experience the natural night sky and where nocturnal ecosystems can function without artificial light interference.
The International Dark-Sky Association, now DarkSky International, has been the leading organization in establishing standards and certifying dark sky places worldwide. Their certification program recognizes several categories of dark sky places including International Dark Sky Parks, Reserves, Sanctuaries, Communities, and Urban Night Sky Places, each with specific requirements for lighting quality, sky brightness, and management practices. As of recent counts, over 200 certified dark sky places exist across more than 20 countries, protecting millions of acres of dark sky habitat.
Dark sky parks are typically public lands such as national or state parks that have demonstrated exceptional nighttime sky quality and have implemented comprehensive lighting management plans to maintain dark conditions. These parks serve as anchors for dark sky tourism while providing protected habitat for nocturnal wildlife and reference sites for scientific research on natural nighttime conditions. Parks such as those in Utah, New Mexico, and other locations in the American Southwest have leveraged dark sky designation to attract visitors interested in stargazing, astrophotography, and the experience of natural darkness.
Dark sky reserves encompass larger landscapes that include both a core area with exceptional sky quality and a surrounding buffer zone where communities commit to responsible lighting practices that protect the core area from light intrusion. These reserves demonstrate that dark sky conservation can coexist with human settlement when communities adopt appropriate lighting standards. The designation process often catalyzes community engagement around lighting issues while providing economic benefits through dark sky tourism.
Dark sky communities are cities, towns, and organized communities that have adopted comprehensive lighting ordinances and demonstrated commitment to dark sky preservation within their jurisdictions. These communities prove that responsible lighting practices are compatible with safety, economic activity, and quality of life while providing models for other communities interested in reducing light pollution. The designation process typically involves upgrading public lighting, adopting dark sky-compliant lighting codes, and conducting public education about the benefits of reduced light pollution.
The economic benefits of dark sky designation are substantial and growing as dark sky tourism becomes an increasingly popular segment of the travel industry. Communities near certified dark sky places report increased tourism revenue, extended visitor stays, and economic diversification that reduces dependence on other industries. Star parties, astronomy festivals, and dark sky programming attract visitors from urban areas who may travel significant distances for the opportunity to see a truly dark sky, an experience that was universally available just a few generations ago.
Smart Lighting Solutions
The fight against light pollution does not require a return to pre-electric darkness. Rather, it demands a fundamental rethinking of how and why we light our outdoor environments, moving from the assumption that more light equals more safety and prosperity toward evidence-based lighting design that provides appropriate illumination where and when it is needed while minimizing waste, glare, and ecological disruption.
Full-cutoff and shielded fixtures represent the most basic and impactful improvement available in outdoor lighting design. These fixtures direct all light downward where it is useful rather than allowing it to escape sideways or upward into the sky. Replacing a single unshielded fixture with a properly shielded alternative can reduce its contribution to skyglow by 90 percent or more while actually improving ground-level illumination by concentrating light where it is needed. Many communities have achieved dramatic reductions in light pollution simply by requiring that all new outdoor lighting installations use fully shielded fixtures.
Color temperature management addresses the biological impacts of outdoor lighting by controlling the spectral composition of emitted light. Warm-spectrum light sources with color temperatures below 3000 Kelvin produce less blue light and are therefore less disruptive to wildlife and human circadian systems than cool-spectrum sources with higher color temperatures. The transition to LED technology provides an opportunity to specify warmer color temperatures, though many early LED installations used cool-white LEDs that maximize energy efficiency at the cost of increased biological impact. Amber and warm-white LED options that balance efficiency with ecological responsibility are now widely available.
Adaptive lighting systems use sensors, timers, and networked controls to adjust lighting levels based on actual conditions rather than operating at full brightness throughout the night. Motion-activated lights provide illumination when people are present while remaining off or at reduced levels when areas are unoccupied. Dimming systems can reduce light output during late-night hours when activity levels are lowest, and networked controls allow municipalities to manage thousands of streetlights remotely, adjusting brightness levels across the system in response to weather conditions, traffic patterns, and time of night.
Curfew programs establish times after which non-essential outdoor lighting must be extinguished or reduced. Commercial signage curfews, building facade lighting restrictions, and sports facility lighting time limits all reduce unnecessary light pollution during the hours when ecological and human health impacts are greatest and few people benefit from illumination. These programs recognize that the need for outdoor lighting varies dramatically throughout the night and that maintaining full illumination from dusk to dawn wastes energy while causing unnecessary environmental harm.
Light pollution impact assessments, similar to environmental impact assessments for other forms of pollution, evaluate the potential effects of proposed lighting installations on dark sky resources, wildlife habitat, and residential areas before approval. These assessments encourage project designers to consider lighting impacts early in the planning process when changes are least expensive and most effective, rather than attempting to mitigate problems after installation.
Community Dark Sky Initiatives
Grassroots community efforts have proven to be among the most effective forces for combating light pollution, as local action can produce immediate, tangible results while building the public awareness and political support needed for larger-scale policy changes. Communities across the country are demonstrating that dark sky advocacy can unite diverse constituencies around shared goals of environmental protection, energy conservation, public health, and quality of life.
Dark sky ordinances adopted by municipalities establish standards for outdoor lighting that reduce light pollution while maintaining safety and functionality. Effective ordinances typically address fixture shielding requirements, maximum brightness levels, color temperature standards, curfew provisions, and exemptions for specific uses such as security lighting and athletic facilities. The most successful ordinances are developed through inclusive processes that engage residents, businesses, lighting professionals, and conservation advocates in crafting standards that balance competing interests.
Community lighting audits engage volunteers in surveying outdoor lighting across their communities, identifying problem fixtures, and recommending improvements. These audits raise awareness about light pollution while providing actionable data that informs policy development and infrastructure investment. The participatory nature of lighting audits builds community ownership of dark sky goals while educating participants about the principles of responsible lighting design.
Public education campaigns use events such as star parties, dark sky festivals, and astronomy outreach to connect people with the night sky while building support for light pollution reduction. When people experience a truly dark sky, many are moved by the beauty and wonder of what they have been missing and become motivated advocates for dark sky protection. These experiences are particularly impactful for children who may have never seen the Milky Way or a sky filled with thousands of visible stars.
School-based programs incorporate light pollution education into science curricula while engaging students in citizen science projects that measure sky brightness and track light pollution trends. Programs such as Globe at Night invite students worldwide to report their observations of night sky brightness, contributing to a global dataset that documents light pollution patterns and changes over time. These educational initiatives build scientific literacy while cultivating environmental awareness and stewardship values.
Neighborhood-level initiatives encourage residents to evaluate and improve their own outdoor lighting by replacing unshielded fixtures, installing timers and motion sensors, reducing unnecessary lighting, and choosing warm-spectrum bulbs. These individual actions, when adopted across a community, can produce noticeable improvements in local sky quality while reducing energy consumption and electricity costs. Community toolkits that provide information about responsible lighting choices and connections to rebate programs make these individual actions easier and more accessible.
Business engagement programs work with commercial property owners, developers, and the sign industry to adopt dark sky-friendly lighting practices that maintain visibility and security while reducing light pollution. Many businesses discover that responsible lighting actually improves their properties’ appearance and customer experience while reducing energy costs, making dark sky compliance a business advantage rather than a burden.
Astronomical Impacts and Cultural Loss
Light pollution’s erasure of the night sky represents not only an ecological crisis but a profound cultural and scientific loss that affects humanity’s relationship with the cosmos and with the deep traditions of sky-watching that have shaped civilizations for millennia.
Astronomical research is directly impacted by light pollution as professional observatories find their data increasingly contaminated by artificial skyglow. Observatories that were sited in remote locations decades ago to escape light pollution now face encroaching development that degrades their observing conditions and threatens the viability of research programs representing billions of dollars in investment. The migration of major observatories to increasingly remote and expensive locations reflects the shrinking availability of truly dark sites for astronomical research.
Amateur astronomy, a pursuit that has contributed significantly to scientific discovery and public science education, is increasingly difficult in light-polluted environments where faint objects such as nebulae, galaxies, and comets are washed out by skyglow. Amateur astronomers have been instrumental in discovering comets, tracking asteroids, monitoring variable stars, and engaging the public with the wonder of the cosmos, but their ability to continue these contributions depends on access to reasonably dark skies.
The cultural dimension of dark sky loss is perhaps the hardest to quantify but no less significant. Every human civilization has looked up at the night sky and found meaning in what they saw. Constellations have served as calendars, navigation aids, and frameworks for mythology and storytelling across every culture on earth. The stars have inspired art, poetry, music, philosophy, and scientific inquiry for as long as humans have had the capacity for wonder. When light pollution renders the sky a featureless gray dome, it severs a connection between humanity and the universe that has been foundational to human culture and consciousness.
Indigenous communities have particularly rich relationships with the night sky, using stellar and lunar observations for agricultural timing, ceremonial practices, navigation, and the transmission of cultural knowledge through star-based narratives. The loss of dark skies threatens these cultural practices while adding to the broader pattern of environmental changes that disproportionately affect Indigenous peoples and their traditional ways of life.
The experience of natural darkness itself is becoming rare and unfamiliar to urban populations, with consequences for human psychology and spiritual well-being that are difficult to measure but widely reported. Darkness provides a sense of scale, humility, and connection to something larger than human concerns that many people find essential for emotional and spiritual health. The constant illumination of modern environments leaves no space for the contemplation and wonder that darkness and starlight have provided to every previous generation of humans.
Economic Considerations
The economic dimensions of light pollution include both the direct costs of wasted energy and the broader economic implications of ecological disruption, health impacts, and lost tourism opportunities. Understanding these costs helps make the case for lighting reform to audiences who may be less moved by environmental or aesthetic arguments.
Energy waste from light pollution is substantial and measurable. The International Dark-Sky Association estimates that at least 30 percent of all outdoor lighting in the United States is wasted, meaning it illuminates nothing useful while consuming energy and producing greenhouse gas emissions. This waste represents approximately three billion dollars in annual energy costs in the United States alone, an expenditure that produces no benefit while actively causing ecological harm and contributing to climate change. In an era of concern about energy security and carbon emissions, eliminating wasted outdoor lighting represents one of the simplest and most cost-effective conservation measures available.
Healthcare costs associated with circadian disruption from light pollution, while difficult to quantify precisely, are potentially enormous given the established links between artificial light at night and cancer, metabolic disorders, sleep disturbances, and mental health conditions. Even modest contributions of light pollution to the prevalence of these conditions translate into billions of dollars in healthcare expenditure and lost productivity, costs that are currently borne by individuals and healthcare systems rather than by the sources of light pollution.
Agricultural impacts include disrupted pollination by nocturnal insects, altered behavior of pest-controlling bats and birds, and direct effects on plant physiology caused by artificial light exposure. While these impacts are less studied than other consequences of light pollution, preliminary research suggests that light pollution may reduce crop yields and increase pest management costs in agricultural areas adjacent to urban development.
Dark sky tourism presents a significant economic opportunity for communities that protect their nighttime environments. Astrotourism has grown into a multi-billion dollar global industry as urban dwellers seek destinations where they can experience natural darkness and observe celestial events. Communities that invest in dark sky preservation and develop associated tourism infrastructure can capture a growing share of this market while diversifying their local economies. The investment required to achieve dark sky status through lighting upgrades and ordinance development is modest compared to the ongoing tourism revenue that designation can generate.
Property values in dark sky communities and near dark sky preserves often benefit from the association with environmental quality and the reduced light nuisance that accompanies responsible lighting practices. While research on this topic is still developing, early evidence suggests that dark sky designation can enhance property values while attracting residents and businesses that value environmental stewardship and quality of life.
The Path Forward: Reclaiming the Night
Addressing light pollution requires coordinated action across multiple scales, from individual lighting choices to international policy coordination, guided by the fundamental principle that darkness is not a problem to be solved but a natural resource to be protected. The path forward combines technological innovation with policy reform, community action, and a cultural shift in how we think about the relationship between light, safety, and progress.
Lighting standards and building codes need updating to incorporate dark sky principles including shielding requirements, color temperature standards, brightness limits, and adaptive control mandates. Model lighting ordinances developed by dark sky organizations provide templates that communities can adapt to their specific circumstances while maintaining consistency with best practices. These standards should apply to all new construction and major renovations while providing reasonable timelines for bringing existing lighting into compliance.
Government leadership at all levels can accelerate progress through procurement policies that specify dark sky-compliant lighting for public facilities, transportation infrastructure, and government-funded projects. When governments model responsible lighting practices, they demonstrate feasibility while creating market demand for dark sky-friendly products that drives innovation and reduces costs for private sector adoption.
Research investment should expand our understanding of light pollution’s impacts on ecosystems, human health, and cultural resources while developing improved lighting technologies and management strategies. Interdisciplinary research that connects ecology, public health, engineering, and social science is particularly needed to understand the full scope of light pollution’s consequences and to develop comprehensive solutions.
International cooperation is essential because light pollution does not respect political boundaries and because migratory species affected by artificial light traverse multiple countries during their annual journeys. International agreements on lighting standards, dark sky corridor protection, and research coordination can address transboundary light pollution while building on existing frameworks for environmental cooperation.
The Rissover Foundation supports dark sky conservation as an integral part of our broader commitment to environmental protection and community well-being. We recognize that reclaiming the night sky requires both practical action and a shift in values, moving from the assumption that light is inherently beneficial toward an understanding that appropriate lighting serves human needs while preserving the natural darkness that ecosystems, human health, and the human spirit require. Every shielded fixture, every lighting curfew, every dark sky ordinance, and every child who sees the Milky Way for the first time represents a step toward a world where we can enjoy the benefits of modern lighting without sacrificing the ancient inheritance of a sky full of stars. When we protect the dark, we protect the web of life that depends on natural darkness, the health of our communities, and the irreplaceable wonder of looking up and seeing our place in the cosmos.
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