General Dark Sky Advocacy

International Dark Sky Association International Dark Sky Association

The most well-known of the Dark Sky groups, their website is a treasure trove of information:

• from the basics of “what is light pollution?” to specific strategies on how to fight it in your community.

• links and info on local Dark Sky Association chapters

• Dark Sky Park designations and locations

• Videos, links, and educational resources

Native Skywatchers Native Skywatchers

This is an awesome organization, learned of them through IDA’s Annual Meeting last November.

From their website:

“Designed by Annette S. Lee (2007), the Native Skywatchers initiative seeks to remember and revitalize indigenous star and earth knowledge. The overarching goal of Native Skywatchers is to communicate the knowledge that indigenous people traditionally practiced a sustainable way of living and sustainable engineering through a living and participatory relationship with the above and below, sky and earth.

We aim to improve current inequities in education for native young people, to inspire increased cultural pride, and promote community wellness. We hope to inspire all people to have a rekindling or deepening sense of awe and personal relationship to the cosmos.”

Citizen Science (There’s An App For That)

Loss of the Night App

Description from the App Store:

“The Loss of the Night app turns your eyes into a light meter, allowing you to become a citizen scientist and report how bright the night sky is where you live!

[…]Scientists are concerned that light pollution might have a big impact on nocturnal ecosystems, but they have very little information about how bright the actually sky is worldwide, or how skyglow is changing over the years.

You can help monitor skyglow using this app! It's based on Google's Sky Map, and lets you make measurements with a very sensitive, stable, and well understood light meter: your eyes! All you need to do is look for certain stars in the sky, and tell us whether you can see them or not. Using the Loss of the Night app is both fun and educational, and it also generates important scientific information that might help to protect the environment in the future.

You can find it on Apple’s AppStore here: ‎Loss of the night on the App Store (apple.com)

Or on Google Play, here: Loss of the night - Apps on Google Play

(Personally, this is one of the coolest things I have on my phone.)

Stellarium Web Online
A real-time star map based on your location - this is what you should be able to see, if light pollution doesn’t get in your way.

Stellarium Web Online Star Map (stellarium-web.org) (desktop)

Stellarium Mobile Plus | Stellarium Labs (stellarium-labs.com) (mobile downloads)

Specific Lighting Guidance

It works for sea turtles, it works for the us, it works for the sky.

Just because you might be inland doesn’t mean these lighting designs won’t work for you, and help out your local ecosystems:

FWC Sea Turtle Lighting Guidelines (myfwc.com)

Sea Turtles and Lights | FWC (myfwc.com)

Other Conservation Orgs and Initiatives

Dark Skies Save Sea Turtle Lives! | Turtle Island Restoration Network (seaturtles.org)

Preserving Dark Skies | Audubon

Lights Out Toronto - Saving Birds | BirdNote