Outdoors: Dark Skies Ordinance

Many cities across the United States have enacted what is popularly called a Dark Skies Ordinance. This ordinances requires that all outdoor lighting face downward to the ground. The ordinance is an effort to reduce lighting pollution and help urban dweller see the stars from their homes. The International Dark Sky Association, based in Tuscon, Arizona has helped pass this type of legislation. In Tuscon, astronomy is a popular pastime. There are opponents whom resent this type of legislation and the burden of cost it places on homeowners. But many can agree that light should logically face down to illuminate the earth and its inhabitants rather than the dark sky. Lighting retailers have an icon, on the left, that designates certain items as Dark Sky compliant. Below: A time-lapse view of stars streaking across the Phoenix desert with the city, itself, glowing at the horizon line.

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