Light pollution harms lightning bugs—but you can help
Have you ever lived in an area with a thriving lightning bug population?
This is the time of year when I used to chase lightning bugs (or fireflies) across the lawn and gaze up at the Milky Way from my backyard in Wichita, KS. My Dad’s friend Sam, an amateur astronomer, would sometimes come over with a telescope and point out celestial objects to us: nebulas and constellations and perhaps comets. (Regrettably, the specifics have long since evaporated from my memory.)
I’d catch lightning bugs, peer into my cupped hands to watch them glow, and release them. They always seemed strangely unperturbed. It felt like pure magic.
Image by: Kevin J. Beaty
This is something children in Wichita no longer experience. First, the local lightning bug population is thinner than it once was; sightings in many neighborhoods where they were once prevalent are now rare. And if you look up, you will see perhaps 20 percent as many stars as were visible on those summer evenings in the late 80s and the 90s.
These may seem like two separate phenomena, but the cause is the same: light pollution. And while Wichita has done an abysmal job with street lighting design and lighting regulations generally, it’s not unique. The exponential increase in light pollution across North America has far outpaced population growth (and economic growth).
Why?
Because the former isn’t a product of the latter.
Most light pollution is not an inevitable or unavoidable byproduct of economic growth, development, or even suburban sprawl. Light pollution is the result of bad lighting design and overlighting.
Lightning bugs, like many other species, struggle to mate and thrive in light-polluted settings. Thus, the Sparklebutts, some of the friendliest neighbors I ever had, have been replaced by cheap, poorly designed, harsh lights made in China.
I never had to buy blackout shades because of lightning bugs. They were good neighbors.
The plight of lightning bugs is only one instance of the harm light pollution causes to wildlife and nocturnal habitats.
But it doesn’t have to continue this way. Municipalities and parks across Colorado are forestalling and even reversing light pollution. Awareness of its urgency, causes, and solutions is growing.
https://darkskycolorado.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Fireflies.photo-by-Kevin-J.-Beaty.jpg11911788Danihttps://darkskycolorado.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/darksky-logo-animation-1.svgDani2025-09-07 18:37:202025-09-08 09:48:01Save the Sparklebutts!
Humans have always found ways to illuminate the darkness, but something fundamental shifted with electricity’s arrival. Artificial lighting now increases by up to 20% annually in some regions, creating a new form of pollution we’re only beginning to understand. This isn’t just about missing stars; it’s about health, safety, and experiences we’re losing without even realizing it.
Dark Sky International (formerly the International Dark Sky Association) certifies six types of locations: sanctuaries, reserves, parks, communities, urban night sky places, and approved lodging. Each certification requires light meter readings, community education, lighting policies, and either immediate compliance projects or five-year improvement roadmaps.
But here’s what matters for you as a traveler: these certifications represent destinations that understand something profound about the value of darkness.
Your Health Depends on Darkness
Science has established scotobiology. This is the study of biological systems that require darkness to function. The health implications of excessive nighttime light exposure include increased risks of sleep disorders, diabetes, obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and depression. While these effects develop over time, even short-term exposure affects your travel experience.
Consider your last hotel stay in a brightly lit city. Did you sleep poorly despite exhaustion? Light pollution streaming through inadequate curtains compounds the natural challenge of sleeping somewhere new. Your immune system, already working harder during travel, needs quality sleep to keep you healthy and energized for adventures.
Dark sky certified destinations minimize light trespass, ensuring better sleep quality without relying on blackout curtains that many locally-run accommodations lack. When you wake refreshed instead of groggy, you’re more motivated to explore, more present for experiences, and more resilient against travel fatigue.
Safety Through Intelligent Lighting
Safety ranks second on Maslow’s hierarchy for good reason. We all want to feel secure no matter where we are but this is especially true while traveling. Dark sky certification doesn’t mean eliminating lighting; it means eliminating glare and designing illumination that actually improves visibility and safety.
Many destinations flood public spaces with bright, glaring lights assuming more equals safer. Research from England and Wales found “little evidence of harmful effects” when communities switched off, dimmed, or modified lighting systems. In fact, excessive lighting can help criminals “choose their victims, locate escape routes and see their surroundings” more easily.
Dark sky certified places use targeted, well-designed lighting that enhances visibility without creating the glare that reduces night vision, especially for travelers over 40, who comprise the majority of international visitors to many destinations. Better visibility means safer navigation for evening activities and reduced eye strain during nighttime exploration.
Experiences Worth Traveling For
The most compelling reason to seek dark sky destinations isn’t health or safety, it’s the extraordinary experiences they offer. These places have transformed darkness from something to overcome into something to celebrate.
**Hotel Belmar** in Costa Rica offers guided night tours showcasing nocturnal wildlife and soundscapes invisible during daylight hours. **Casita de Gila** provides star charts, spotting scopes, and a 10-inch telescope with guided tours, plus setup sites for guests bringing their own equipment. Each casita features amenities designed for astronomers and astro-photographers, yet owner Becky O’Connor notes: “We have many people who come just to see a dark sky because they live in or near a city.”
The experiences extend far beyond traditional stargazing. **Bryce Canyon National Park’s** full moon hikes sell out within an hour. **Great Basin National Park’s** annual Astronomy Festival transformed their visitation numbers overnight, attracting families, backpackers, and elderly visitors alike. **Mont-Mégantic Star Reserve** in Canada now hosts dark sky and meteor festivals welcoming tens of thousands annually.
Innovation in the Dark
Creative businesses worldwide are discovering unique ways to celebrate darkness:
Kosmos Stargazing Resort & Spa combines luxury accommodations with expert-led astronomy sessions and celestial-themed spa treatments
Stargazing Zion’s Zero-Gravity Pod Tours offer comfortable cosmic viewing with high-tech equipment and interpretive storytelling
Yellowstone Night Skies Tours provide four-hour immersive experiences with transportation, telescopes, mythology lessons, and astrophotography guidance
Cafe Laulian which operated in the early 2000’s in South Korea hosted monthly “candle nights” where all electric lights go off simultaneously, creating intimate live music experiences by candlelight
The Alqueva region in Portugal developed an entire Dark Sky Route, an association of accommodations and activities including night vision wildlife searches, full moon horseback riding, new moon rides for experienced equestrians, and nighttime canoeing on Lake Alqueva.
Not every dark sky experience requires expensive resorts or guided tours. Durango, Colorado figured out something brilliant (pun intended), they loan out complete stargazing kits from their Welcome Center and the Pine River Library in Bayfield. The kit includes: binoculars, smartphone mounts for photos, star charts, red flashlights, kids’ activities, even light meters so you can measure how dark (or polluted) your campsite or hotel area are. These are designed to get people interested by not requiring an knowledge or for that matter money as they are available for free. This means even families on shoe string budgets can enjoy something else they might not have gotten to while hopefully observing what is taking place around them.
These aren’t just tourism gimmicks; they’re recognition that darkness offers experiences impossible under artificial light. As one visitor to Cafe Laulian’s candle night observed: “I could see my family better in the dark with candle light. I had to get close to them to see their faces and eyes, and I became warm-hearted.”
Beyond Tourism: Becoming an Advocate
Dark sky destinations represent communities that made conscious choices about their relationship with light and darkness. As travelers, we can support these choices and encourage others.
Start by educating yourself about responsible lighting practices. Check if your area has a local Dark Sky International chapter through their website, these groups offer volunteer opportunities, educational resources, and community connections. If no chapter exists nearby, consider starting one.
When traveling, don’t hesitate to mention problematic lighting to managers. Frame it personally: “The outdoor light was hurting my eyes and made it difficult to access your business.” This approach feels less confrontational while highlighting real impacts.
Most importantly, attend local government meetings in your home community. Advocate for dark sky-friendly lighting codes and ordinances. Officials often don’t know where to start, but numerous examples exist for code writers to reference. Your voice as a resident and traveler carries weight in these discussions.
Campfire Talk
The night sky should be universal heritage, accessible regardless of where we live or travel. Dark sky certified destinations prove that communities can balance necessary illumination with preservation of natural darkness. They offer experiences that reconnect us with something fundamental we’ve almost forgotten, the profound beauty and restorative power of darkness.
These places understand that tourism isn’t just about seeing new sights; it’s about having experiences that change us. Standing beneath unpolluted skies, watching wildlife emerge in natural darkness, or simply sleeping deeply in a quiet, dark room, these should not be luxuries. They’re connections to our most basic human needs.
Have you ever experienced a truly dark sky? What drew you there, and how did it affect you? More importantly, what’s preventing your home community from protecting its own darkness?
Sustainability whispers in the in-between, we just need listen and explore.
https://darkskycolorado.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/e2d0f2d4-cb19-4bdd-8ade-cfb9960bd0dd_8640x5760.webp9711456Mary Isgrohttps://darkskycolorado.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/darksky-logo-animation-1.svgMary Isgro2025-09-03 18:36:102025-09-07 18:39:14Dark Sky Tourism: Why Your Next Adventure Should Chase the Night
Astronomical events like the Coronae Borealis nova can give us a healthy perspective on our day-to-day hangups
Sometime in the next few months, a white dwarf star within the faintly visible constellation T Coronae Borealis is predicted to become a nova bright and conspicuous to any casual stargazer.
The T Coronae Borealis nova will last several days before shrinking back into a regular white dwarf star, the most common form stars assume when they die. It will burn intensely and briefly, like a loose wad of newspaper dropped on a small campfire. Then the nova will vanish from eyesight. Again.
Artist’s impression of a white dwarf drawing material away from its red giant partner. Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss | BBC At Night Magazine
This specific nova occurs every 80 years on average. Unless you are very young or very fortunate, this will be the last time it occurs in your lifetime. We also know there is a 68 percent chance it will occur before September, and a 95 percent chance it will occur before December.
The science that allows us to predict and understand all this is fascinating. But to me, the most fascinating part of this is that when you look up to see this in July, or August, or possibly a bit later, you will really be looking into the distant past. Because the Coronae Borealis constellation is about 3,000 light years away.
When you look at the Coronae Borealis nova, you’ll be looking at something that happened at a time when the Bronze Age was gradually giving way to the Iron Age. You will be seeing light that originated at the time the Phoenician alphabet was being developed. It is overwhelmingly far away, and one cannot pause to think about this without feeling a heightened appreciation of how utterly unlikely, weird, and wonderful it is that we even exist.
But something is terribly wrong.
Next time this happens some eight decades into the future, it may be impossible for all but a very small, privileged few to observe from Earth. If we continue on the path we’ve been on for the last few decades, nearly all astronomical events, meteors, and most of the stars you are yet able to see, will be invisible to almost everyone alive.
The reason is light pollution.
But the good news is that compared to almost every other major challenge humanity has faced and overcome, and those we face today, light pollution is easily reversible and solvable.
People need a sense of wonder. We need perspective on our struggles and anxieties, a perspective that diminishes the weight of political squabbles and unopened work emails and social comparison and addictions. Something that lightens our burdens, and yet inspires and encourages us to dream big.
When I was growing up in Wichita, KS, already a sizable town of around 300,000 people, the Milky Way was visible from my backyard. We took that for granted. On summer evenings my brothers and I would sometimes ask my mom if we could sleep out on the trampoline. I don’t remember her ever saying no.
It was perfectly safe to sleep outside in my neighborhood back when it was considered bad manners to install floodlights around your property.
If I want to view the Milky Way, or any of the minor constellations, with my kids today, we have to get well outside of town. And I live in a much smaller town than the one I grew up in. My kids initially learned about the Milky Way from me telling stories about my childhood. My girlfriend’s intelligent 15-year-old son didn’t even realize it was theoretically visible from Earth. I learned about it by looking up at it in wonder.
Which version of childhood sounds more appealing to you?
The ability to see the cosmos, for those who can, is a ticket outside of your own head. It is a remedy for self-absorption and anxiety. We all need the night sky, or at least the type of contemplation it affords us, from time to time. Yet every year in the U.S. we look up and see seven- to 10 percent fewer stars.
As daunting a problem as this is, there are simple, practical measures we can take to mitigate it. To curb light pollution, we need to appreciate three basic things: light intensity, color temperature, and direction.
Intensity – Lighting should be bright enough for comfort and safety, not bright enough to annoy, distract, or harm drivers and pedestrians
Color Temperature – Lighting should be on the red end of the light spectrum, which is more attractive and healthier for both people and nocturnal wildlife
Direction – Lighting should be shielded and directed downward, safely illuminating whatever property needs to be lit as opposed to a lot of neighboring properties and trees and the sky itself
By keeping these things in mind, we can renew the night sky many of us knew growing up. It requires very little in terms of economic resources, and in many cases it can be cost negative. It requires some political will, some public education, some planning, and courtesy. It requires no tradeoffs in terms of public or individual safety.
It’s too late for my kids to learn about the Milky Way as I did, on a spring evening in my own backyard. But paradoxically, it is by no means too late for my grandkids.
That’s one of the reasons our work at DarkSky Colorado matters.
