In On the Banks of Plum Creek (Chapter 14, “Spring Freshet”), Pa looks outside during the night to look at the creek. But he can’t see a thing because “it’s as dark as a stack of black cats!”
Thanks to earth’s light pollution, it would be a rare thing these days to go outside and not be able to see anything. Thanks to five street lights within sight of my front door plus multiple neighbors who feel the need to leave their porch lights on 24-7, I can go outside and read the phone book at any given hour of the night. I do not feel the least bit lucky at being able to do this.
Look at THIS map of the night sky. Light pollution. Even De Smet is lit up in the night sky (yeah, I hate the street light on the Ingalls Homestead, too). On the portion of the map above, De Smet is right below the letter D. Going east (right), the dots are Lake Preston, Arlington, Volga, and Brookings. The big dot west (left) of De Smet is Huron. The bigger dot south of Brookings (at the bottom of the image) is Sioux Falls. Pierre and North Pierre are the double-dots west (left) of Huron. Compared to the dot that is De Smet, where I live has a dot the size of a freaking golf ball.
Once again, mark your calendars to participate in NATIONAL DARK-SKY WEEK from April 17-24. Don’t you love how they squeeze an extra day of darkness into that “week”?
This will be during the period of the new moon in April as always.
You don’t have to sit around in the dark that week, although it’s a thought. But you can think about switching to lower wattage outdoor light bulbs or investigate changing to directional fixtures. Turn off lights in rooms you aren’t in, and keep the curtains or blinds closed to keep the light inside. If you have two fixtures outside, unscrew the bulb(s) in one of them. Show your support in simple ways.
Keeping the porch light on during daylight hours is ridiculous any time of the year.
