{"id":195,"date":"2014-09-08T14:45:26","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T21:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/summitrise.com\/?page_id=195"},"modified":"2023-10-17T19:19:24","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T02:19:24","slug":"night-sky-heritage","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/resources\/what-is-light-pollution\/effects\/night-sky-heritage\/","title":{"rendered":"Light pollution reduces our night sky heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-lg-font-size\">The nighttime environment is a precious natural resource for all life on Earth, but the glow of uncontrolled outdoor lighting has hidden the stars and changed our perception of the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Plains Milky Way\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KySThq5CxLI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The natural night sky inspires<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Until recently, our ancestors experienced a sky brimming with stars \u2014 a night sky that inspired science, religion, philosophy, art, and literature, including some of Shakespeare\u2019s most famous sonnets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The natural night sky is our common and universal heritage, yet it\u2019s rapidly becoming unknown to the newest generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Van Gogh painted his famous \u201cStarry Night\u201d in Saint R\u00e9my, France, in 1889. Now, the Milky Way can no longer be seen from there. If he were alive today, would he still be inspired to paint \u201cStarry Night\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left\"><blockquote><p>\u201cFor my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.\u201d<\/p><cite>\u2013 Vincent van Gogh<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Experiencing the night sky provides perspective and inspiration, and leads us to reflect on our humanity and place in the universe. The history of scientific discovery and even human curiosity itself is indebted to the natural night sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without the natural night sky we could not have:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Navigated the globe<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Walked on the Moon<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Learned of our expanding universe<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Discovered that humans are made of stardust<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">International Dark Sky Places program<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In part to address this loss of our heritage, in 2001 DarkSky established the International Dark Sky Places program to recognize excellent stewardship of the night sky. Certifications are based on stringent outdoor lighting standards and innovative community outreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the program began, more than one hundred Parks, Communities, Reserves, and Sanctuaries have received International Dark Sky Place designations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/darksky.org\/what-we-do\/international-dark-sky-places\/\">Learn more<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get involved in the fight to protect the night<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Join DarkSky\u2019s global network of advocates working to protect the night from light pollution! The process is simple: Take the DarkSky 101 training and you will be invited to join DarkSky\u2019s global communication platform, be given access to exclusive advocate resources, and be invited to join additional monthly advocate training on various aspects of light pollution and dark sky conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/darksky.org\/who-we-are\/advocates\/\">Join the Advocates Network<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The nighttime environment is a precious natural resource for all life on Earth, but the glow of uncontrolled outdoor lighting has hidden the stars and changed our perception of the night. The natural night sky inspires Until recently, our ancestors experienced a sky brimming with stars \u2014 a night sky that inspired science, religion, philosophy, &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":13969,"parent":23264,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[620,618],"tags":[11],"advocacy_type":[],"events_terms":[],"locations_terms":[],"admin_issue":[],"class_list":["post-195","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-effects-of-light-pollution","category-what-is-light-pollution","tag-light-pollution"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26876,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/195\/revisions\/26876"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195"},{"taxonomy":"advocacy_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/advocacy_type?post=195"},{"taxonomy":"events_terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events_terms?post=195"},{"taxonomy":"locations_terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/locations_terms?post=195"},{"taxonomy":"admin_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/admin_issue?post=195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}