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Boise State Public Radio (14 February 2020)

2/15/2020

New Map Spotlights Light Pollution In The Rural West

Greenhouses growing leafy greens and cannabis stand out, too. That rural light pollution increasingly concerns John Barentine of the International Dark-Sky Association, who says it has negative effects on wildlife.

“Whether they’re plants or animals or insects, it’s all across the biological world,” Barentine said. “Which is just a reflection of the fact that our biology on this planet grew up in an environment where for billions of years there were only natural sources of light at night.”

But he says simple measures like using blinds for greenhouses could mitigate the problem, helping to preserve the region’s iconic night sky for years to come.

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Bloomberg CityLab (11 February 2020)

2/15/2020

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Where Light Pollution Is Seeping Into the Rural Night Sky

Light pollution is also a threat to rural areas, and it’s disrupting ecosystems that rely on natural darkness. ... “We’ve always had this two-pronged approach: addressing the problem largely where it exists, which is in the cities, while recognizing the rural areas where darkness still exists [as] a form of natural resource,” says John Barentine, the organization’s policy director. “So we are concerned about some of these places that are lighting on Tim’s map.”

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Boise State Public Radio (14 February 2020)

New Map Spotlights Light Pollution In The Rural West

Bloomberg CityLab (11 February 2020)

Where Light Pollution Is Seeping Into the Rural Night Sky

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