Seventy-seven-year old David Westphal of Somesville remembers the first time as a child when he saw a sky milky with stars.
“It was just awe and wonder,” he recalled.
Growing up in rural Minnesota, Westphal didn’t know dark skies were rare; he only realized their value years later after traveling.
Such experience helps him appreciate the sky outside his Mount Desert Island home all the more. Downeast Maine has one of the last stretches of good stargazing land on the East Coast.
“Most of us who come to Maine are taken by…these beautiful night skies,” Westphal said.
Westphal is part of the non-profit Island Astronomy Institute, which wants to preserve MDI’s dark skies for future generations.
“We realize it disappears soon when you have light pollution,” Westphal said.
Light pollution is glare from electric light that interferes with the ability to see stars. Much of that glare is preventable with properly shielded light installations; the International Dark Sky Association estimates shielded light fixtures can reduce 90 percent of the wasted light that reaches space.
Astronomers and lighting experts estimate the world economy wastes more than $1 billion a year on light pollution. According to dark sky experts, nearly two-thirds of the world’s population no longer can see the Milky Way.
Peter Lord, co-founder of the Island Astronomy Institute (WWF, Nov. 06), said losing the ability to see the stars is losing a vital connection to the universe, he said.
“It’s half of our visual environment,” Lord said.
Unfortunately, light pollution is slowly encroaching into the Downeast. Within Ellsworth’s commercial district a few miles away from MDI, the sky is all but blotted out by the glare of shopping center lighting and fast-food restaurant signs. Even a church has erected a red-dot electric billboard.
And new development threatens more light pollution. Ellsworth’s planning board recently granted home improvement chain Lowe’s a waiver to exceed the city’s light ordinances for its new store.
But there’s also a concerted effort between the Astronomy Institute and Acadia National Park to preserve Mount Desert Island’s dark skies before they disappear. John Kelly, Acadia park planner, said the move to preserve Acadia stargazing is part of a dark sky campaign for all national parks.
One could argue it’s hard enough making national park funding stretch without worrying about the heavens, but Kelly doesn’t see it that way. Dark skies are part of the scenic package of a national park, he says. Just as the park’s low-polluting shuttle-bus program hopes to preserve daytime vistas, the park hopes to prevent light pollution to preserve nighttime views.
“The National Park Service does not pick and choose resources,” Kelly said. “We need to protect the whole spectrum.”
The Institute and Acadia hope to formalize a joint-effort agreement in the coming months.
The campaign will take a three-step approach toward establishing Acadia as a dark-sky preserve. First, park officials and local astronomers are planning a baseline study of the island’s skies. Second, they want to promote dark sky preservation through education and outreach.
This is clearly the part of the plan that excites Lord the most. He said the traditional model of dark-sky preservation is for lone astronomy buffs to plead for good lighting at local planning meetings. Instead, Lord wants to foster a greater public stewardship of night sky preservation.
“The entire model is, `How can we engage the public?’ ” Lord said.
The last component of the plan involves direct action. Kelly said the park service is already looking at ways to correct any light pollution problems within the park.
“We are sometimes the offenders as well,” Kelly said.
He said while the park’s visitor’s center and Hull’s Cove areas are examples of good lighting, the ranger station is guilty of significant glare.
For its part, Lord hopes the Astronomy Institute will soon be in a position to provide access to quality lighting and light pollution problem solving for area residents.
Kelly believes light pollution prevention measures will be much easier to sell to the public than other national park preservation efforts, largely because good night lighting makes good business sense. By installing properly shielded lights, home and business owners can still enjoy the security of adequate night lighting while realizing the economic benefits in reduced electricity bills. Indeed, several new building projects in the area, including a Union Trust bank in Town Hill, have incorporated less-polluting lighting because of its cost-effectiveness.
“It’s a cheaper way to light something and a better way to go regardless of the night sky,” Kelly said. “Here, there’s no trade-off.”