Many people crave views of brilliant stars in the night sky, but new research shows a staggering 99 percent of the world's skies are affected by light pollution.
A poll revealed 90 percent of visitors to Maine's Acadia National Park felt that viewing the night sky was "very important" to them, but at least one-third of Americans cannot see the Milky Way from their homes, the University of Vermont reported. Most of the light pollution seen in national parks comes from development, and lighting from towns and cities can influence the view of the night sky for up to 250 miles.
"It's a typical story," said Robert Manning of the University of Vermont. "We begin to value things as they disappear. Fortunately, darkness is a renewable resource and we can we can do things to restore it in the parks."
"Inside the park, you want to eliminate as much unnecessary light as possible," he continued. "Outside, the goal is to minimize light trespass. That's more challenging, but possible."
The researchers recommended that in order to cut down on light pollution visitors should try to keep their light use (from flashlights and other equipment) to a minimum. Since older light sources that emit light horizontally rather than directionally toward the target area are much larger contributors to light pollution, more people should consider switching to LEDs and other directional lighting. They also suggested that towns and cities near national parks should use the growing popularity of astronomical tourism as an incentive to cut down on their light pollution.
Acadia has already seen success in working with the neighboring city of Bar Harbor to implement a progressive lighting ordinance, and Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico is partnered with stakeholder groups to encourage the state legislature to pass the New Mexico Night Sky Protection Act.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Park Science.
