Explorers and sailors found their way by navigating the night sky. Ancient civilizations worshipped the stars. But in doing so, dark-sky advocates warn, we’re losing our way. But through the decades, with the commercialization of electricity, cities grew brighter-nightlife, literally, became part of our vernacular.Ĭlearly, we have the ability to turn night into day. For 20 years now, he has led the dark-sky charge across Texas and beyond, convincing city leaders, business owners and even officials at the Reeves County Detention Center outside Pecos that they’ll see huge benefits by retrofitting their lights.Ī century ago, even as scientists tinkered with lightbulb improvements, the world was still virtually dark at night. It’s an idea espoused by Wren, the McDonald Observatory’s special assistant to the superintendent. So the IDA’s philosophy is simple: Light what you need, when you need it. The more we plug in, the more we’re disconnecting from one of the world’s most awe-inspiring natural resources-the night sky. alone, dark-sky advocates say, is wasting more than $2 billion annually in energy costs. The brightening of the atmosphere is hindering astronomical science. Research from the international association and other organizations, including the American Medical Association, shine a warning light on the hazards of light pollution: Excessive artificial light disrupts circadian rhythms-the 24-hour biological clock that regulates the cadence of our lives-jeopardizing not only the health of humans, but putting the lives of nocturnal animals at risk. The world’s first comprehensive outdoor lighting control ordinance was enacted in 1970 in Tucson, Arizona, home of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) that was co-founded in 1988 by Wren’s mentor, David Crawford. While West Texas’ dark-sky movement is picking up speed like a meteor shower, the battle against light pollution is not unique to this area. And Bartee, a never-sit-still amateur astronomer and night-sky entrepreneur who sees West Texas’ twinkling stars as diamonds in the rough spurring economic development and tourism across the region. Through the project, which earned Turecek a natural resource stewardship award from the National Park Service, Big Bend is seeing astronomical decreases in electric bills. Lisa Turecek, a supervisor at Big Bend National Park who pushed a groundbreaking outdoor lighting control project into place-making what some astronomers consider the nation’s darkest park even darker.Well-designed, or shielded, fixtures efficiently shine light downward-not wastefully, into the sky-saving money and energy and improving visibility. McDonald Observatory veteran astronomer Bill Wren, the ambassador of dark skies across the Lone Star State, who never veers off point: Light source isn’t the critical issue-what matters is where the light goes when it leaves the fixture.In the quest to save the night from artificial light, West Texas has assembled one of the world’s brightest constellations of dark-sky advocates, starring: That, he replied with all the pride of Galileo discovering that our galaxy holds billions of stars, is the Milky Way. What, the woman asked Bartee, as they craned their necks, is that cloud in the sky? Bartee grinned. But here in far West Texas, where astronomers, researchers and environmentalists are fighting to preserve some of the darkest skies in the world, she was astounded at many celestial objects her naked eyes could see. The woman said she’d never witnessed such a majestic night sky in Mexico City, a metropolis ablaze with outdoor lights that suffocate the stars. The jet-black sky burst open like a sparkler, filling their eyes with wonder: countless stars, the Big Dipper, Mars, Venus, fast-moving satellites, the Pleiades-or Seven Sisters-star cluster, the sliver of a moon. He shut off the headlights, and the trio stepped out of Bartee’s sport-utility vehicle and into desert darkness. Developer Gil Bartee and two clients, an orthopedic surgeon and his wife from Mexico City, excitedly watched for wildlife as they drove toward Sierra la Rana, a dark-sky-friendly community being built just outside Alpine.īartee pulled the couple up to the 12-acre tract they’d purchased two days earlier. The headlights sliced through the cool September night.
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