The Evolution of Smith's Dark Sky Project

“All of astronomy started with naked eye observations at nighttime of the planets and the stars and the sun and the moon moving and people scratching their heads… Astronomers, since time immemorial, have had this incredible gift of nature, the dark night sky, and access to seeing with our own eyes how the heavens work and how the universe works.”

For Smith Astronomy Professor James Lowenthal, a love of observing the night sky sparked an acute awareness of light pollution at an early age. “As an amateur astronomer, growing up in New York City and in rural Connecticut, only 90 miles away from New York, I saw light pollution firsthand.”

In 1987, the International Dark Sky Association was founded by Dr. Tim Hunter and Dr. David L. Crawford as a non-profit organization in Tucson, Arizona, with the goal of restoring the nighttime environment and protecting communities and wildlife from light pollution. With this cause being near and dear to his heart, Lowenthal founded Massachusetts’ very own Dark Sky chapter. 

As stated in the mission statement, the motivation for the Dark Sky Movement extends far beyond the ability to see the stars; it intersects with critical issues including environmentalism, human health, and even cultural preservation. 

“There are cultures in the world today who still turn to the sky for their heritage, for connections to their ancestors,” Lowenthal said. “There are indigenous groups all around the world, and from New Zealand to the Arctic, whose stories are literally written in the stars, and it's been said that light pollution is a form of cultural genocide. We're erasing those people's stories and their origins.”

Although light pollution is harmful to indigenous communities specifically, it is also implicated in negative health outcomes. It can lead to the suppression of melatonin, which leaves people more prone to cancerous diseases. Based on a study with laboratory rats, Lowenthal explained that tumors can grow rapidly in the absence of melatonin. “If you live in a place where there's a lot of light pollution, you have a higher rate of cancer and diabetes and obesity and mood disorders in teens.”

In addition to humans, the strength of local light fixtures threatens the pollinators that live in Northampton’s Pulaski Park, erasing and undermining the city’s efforts to establish pollinator-friendly gardens. 

“Human Light Pollution,” NOAA National Geophysical Data Center. (2003). Creative Commons License.

Despite the consequences of light pollution, the main argument for its necessity is that it helps protect against crime. Lowenthal acknowledges this, but also assures that there is no conclusive link between outdoor lighting and crime. 

“You know, women have more to lose, and that is a very important part of our culture that is complicated and thorny, and it needs to be discussed openly and with nuance and with compassion, but also with respect and understanding for what else is happening at night, and not just throw light at that complex situation and problem and history in the hopes that it will solve it,” Lowenthal said. 

Lowenthal became actively engaged in local Dark Sky policy in 2015 when Northampton announced new street lights for downtown. He decided to organize a campaign to encourage the city to make responsible outdoor lighting decisions. While the group did not succeed in convincing the city to adopt more responsible lighting, the campaign led to the creation of Northampton City Lights, an organization focused on educating Northampton residents about light pollution and mitigating its local impacts. 

Northampton City Lights hosts an annual event during International Dark Sky Week called “Northampton Night Fest.” For the past few years, the festival has been held in Downtown Northampton, the part of town where light pollution is highest, but also one of the most centrally accessible locations for Northampton residents. Lowenthal describes the event as “celebrating the night and how important it is for us, and how magical it is, and how beautiful it is, and how important, critically important, it is for our own health and the health of all species.” 

Recently, Northampton City Lights applied for Historic Northampton to become a “Certified Urban Night Place.” According to Dark Sky International, the parent organization of Northampton City Lights, an Urban Night Place is a location that “brings attention to the problem of light pollution and the need to preserve the night sky as a natural resource.” Lowenthal views Historic Northampton as a place that offers authentic nighttime experiences” and a location where residents can “come enjoy and celebrate the night.”

Overall, Lowenthal’s proudest accomplishments are “starting organizations that I hope will outlive me and and my leadership, so I founded this group at Smith, and I hope that when I retire by 10 years, I'll be out of here, and I hope that it'll either be a fixed problem or a continuing campaign.”

On the importance of dark skies, Lowenthal says, "Nighttime is really special. It's when love happens and when profound religious experiences happen, and when dreams happen and when sleep happens, and when lots of animals are active and when the sky is this amazing gift of nature, and I want to share that with people. I want your generation to have access to that magic and to be able to celebrate it and to tap into.”

Smith students can become involved in dark sky advocacy through our chapter of Campus SHINE, an organization that “provides guidance to improve outdoor lighting and implement technological solutions that mitigate and/or eliminate problems such as sky glow, light trespass, and direct glare” while maintaining campus safety. SHINE will host its annual LightsOut event on the Quad from April 20 from 8:00-10:00 PM.

By Gabby Bay & Maddy Lingk