Dark skies are about more than seeing the stars – they add to the enjoyment of rural living, according to local residents and astronomers. Dr. Phil Langill, director of Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, operated by the University of Calgary, visited MD of Foothills council on June 13 to talk about the municipality’s Dark Sky Initiative. He was joined by Millarville Community School student Maya McNeil, who gave a presentation she had prepared for a school project that centred around the initiative. “Calgary has almost as much light pollution as Toronto, which is really bad because they have way more population,” said McNeil. She volunteers at Rothney with her father, and has taken an interest in light pollution in all its forms – glare, light trespass, and sky glow. Glare is light emitting from a luminaire great enough to reduce visibility or even momentarily blind observers, light trespass is light that shines beyond the boundaries of the property on which it is located, and sky glow is the collective light from multiple sources shining upwards, reducing visibility of the night sky. McNeil was given a sky quality meter to measure light pollution, and has been logging her findings around her home and other frequently visited locations. She is also trying to raise funds to have a large Dark Sky Country sign put up in Millarville, either at her school or in the hamlet. Her research and passion isn’t always met with open arms. “I have a neighbour who has a light under the ‘very bad’ category and it has no cap at all, and I called her as part of my exhibition project for my school, and she yelled at me and was offended,” McNeil told council. “Her light is on 24/7, and she said it had been on for 30 years. Some people don’t want to change, but they don’t realize how bad their light is affecting people.” Langill said it’s a common problem. Homeowners often don’t realize the impact their light has on the surrounding environment or neighbours, he said. Ideally light should all be downward facing, because if it’s shining upward it’s not doing what the person who installed it intended, he said. “Let’s say I’m a person who lives in the country and at night I need to be able to see my sidewalk,” said Langill. “That’s the task I need the light to do, so I put up a bulb and if that bulb is doing more than its task, like shining light up into the sky or in my neighbour’s property, then that’s not ideal.” He said the best type of lighting in the country would be a downward-facing bulb on a motion sensor, so it’s only turned on when necessary. It’s more than just about keeping the sky dark for the observatory to conduct its research and classes, he said. “I think part of the ambience of living outside the city and in the MD is that it’s dark at night and you get a chance to see the stars,” said Langill. “The dark skies, I look at it as for the MD and the university gets a spin-off from that.” Coun. Suzanne Oel, who invited Langill and McNeil to speak to council, said she wanted to share some of the information from the Dark Sky Initiative Committee with her fellow councillors. She said it’s nice to see support of the community for dark skies in the MD, including students at Millarville Community School, the observatory, and Banded Peak School in Bragg Creek. There are several reasons dark skies are important, she said. “We want to keep the Rothney Observatory, which is a world-class organization, we want to keep it functioning,” said Oel. “We understand the functioning of creatures great and small are affected by the cycles of light and dark they experience. So it’s health reasons, and then it’s also quality of life.” She said light trespass can be irritating for people living in the country, and education for residents of the MD is key to reducing the amount of light pollution experienced in the rural community. The Dark Sky Initiative is meant to create awareness and bring education to people, she said. “Viewing the stars has always been a really great part of the enjoyment of country living, and we hope to support this to help it continue,” said Oel.
