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GAM Dark Skies Awareness Programs
Learn about light pollution and what you can do to help with these GAM programs.
Image credit: Wally Pacholka / AstroPics.com / TWAN
An important lesson to learn during Global Astronomy Month 2012 (GAM 2012) is how and why to preserve our dark night skies. You can make a difference, even if you live in a city with too many bright lights. With half of the world's population living in cities, many people have never experienced the wonder of a pristinely dark sky. Many never will. Light pollution is now, for the first time ever, obscuring our natural heritage of stars. More than 2000 stars should be visible at night, yet we see fewer than 100 from many cities. Poorly-aimed and unshielded outdoor lights send light upwards, creating light pollution and wasting energy; more than 17 billion kilowatt-hours are wasted each year, at a cost of two billion US dollars, in the United States alone.
Several dark skies events and activities will be held worldwide during GAM to promote public awareness of saving energy and saving our night sky. Events range from brief activities like listening to podcasts or day-long activities for children and adults, to campaigns that measure light pollution, a photo contest, and a year-round program to preserve dark-sky observing sites.
The GAM 2012 Dark Skies Awareness programs are listed below. There are also Dark Skies Awareness Resources on the GAM 2012 Resources page.
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GAM 2012 Dark Skies Awareness Blog
The GAM 2012 Dark Skies Awareness Blog (GAM DSA Blog) brings you thoughts and programs on increasing awareness of the need for preserving our dark skies and improving conditions in light polluted areas.
Go to the GAM 2012 Dark Skies Awareness Blog.
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21 April, 2012 (deadline)
Kids & Teens' MoonBounce Global Collaboration
Mission: Kids collaborating together on a global level to raise awareness about starlight preservation for future generations.
Dark Skies Awareness Podcasts
World Night in Defence of the Starlight
Is there is a single day set aside emphasizing the right to starlight?
World Night in Defence of the Starlight happens on April 20 every year to remind us of the need to preserve our right to view a dark night sky full of stars and to take steps to prevent its disappearance. The World Night in Defence of the Starlight is promoted annually as part of our cultural, scientific and environmental heritage. Activities can include switching off lights at night to recover the stars and save energy. You can organize artistic competitions, exhibitions, media campaigns, or conferences on the beauty of the night sky. Create artistic materials like videos, music, books, stories, photographs or paintings on the beauty of the night sky. Identify and possibly protect dark skies oases. Visit an astronomical observatory. Or organize a star party. More information will be posted soon. In the meantime please visit the World Night website.
International Earth and Sky Photo Contest
What if you like photographing the night sky?
From 1 to 22 April, an on-line “ Earth and Sky” photo contest will be open for submission by photography enthusiasts from around the world. The contest theme, “ Dark Skies Importance,” has two categories: “ Beauty of the Night Sky” and “ Against the Lights.” Photos submitted to the contest should aim to address either category: either to impress people on how important and amazing the starry sky is or to impress people on how bad the problem of light pollution has become. Both categories illustrate how light pollution affects our lives.
International Dark Sky Week
What is a good way to help preserve the night sky?
International Dark-Sky Week 14 - 20 April
The week of 14 - 20 April celebrates International Dark Sky Week (IDSW). It’s a great time to host a neighborhood star party and introduce the idea of preserving a dark night sky to your community. A poster child example is the community of Harmony, Florida with their Dark Sky Festival on April 14. The main goal of IDSW is to raise awareness of the value of maintaining dark skies. Another goal of IDSW is to encourage efficient use of outdoor lighting. That is, lighting that lights where you need it, when you need it, and for amount of time it's needed. So if you participate, and you encourage your friends, relatives, and neighbors to participate, that could make a difference in the quality of the night sky and inspire those around us to preserve its beauty.
What if you want to experience how much night sky we have lost to light pollution?
Globe at Night 11 - 20 April
The GLOBE at Night program is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure their night sky brightness and submit their observations to a website from a computer or smart phone. Light pollution threatens not only our “right to starlight”, but can affect energy consumption, wildlife and health. The GLOBE at Night campaign has run for two weeks each winter/spring for the last six years. People in 115 countries have contributed 66,000 measurements, making GLOBE at Night one of the most successful light pollution awareness campaigns.
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Ten minute audio podcasts on dark skies awareness are available at 
