As I have learned more about the importance of dark skies, I remembered a high school project where we made telescopes out of broken light fixtures and tracked the locations of the stars. At the time, I was amazed to see how many stars were visible in the sky here in Highland Park.

Light pollution now obscures the view of the night sky, making it harder to see constellations and the Milky Way. Beyond the loss of seeing the night sky, light pollution negatively impacts human health, disrupts wildlife and wastes energy. Compared with suburbs to our south and west, Highland Park has relatively dark skies due, in part, to our location on Lake Michigan which doesn’t generate light pollution.
 
It’s easy to reduce light pollution at home and in your neighborhood. Some simple steps include shielding lights so that they point down, buying bulbs that are less intense and a lower kelvin rating (under 2700K for LEDs), and reducing the use of lights when they aren’t needed with a timer or a motion sensor. If you are purchasing new outdoor light fixtures, please make sure they are dark skies certified. More information from the International Dark Sky Association is here. You can watch a short presentation on the topic here, beginning about 15 minutes into the video.