16 Apr

Living Things Benefit from the Night Sky

All gardeners know the benefits of the sun when it comes to the garden, we are always looking to the sun when we determine what to grow..will this plant need full sun, partial sun, or full shade?

But I had never taken time to think about the importance of the dark, night sky to all wildlife. Seems surprising since I am what many call a “night owl”. If you want to learn more about this, you can visit the Dark Sky Festival website, this is an annual event that takes place in Harmony, Florida, but even if you can’t attend the event, the site is interesting and will give you some things to think about that you may not have considered before.

Obviously a beautiful night sky in an area that doesn’t have a lot of artificial lighting is wonderful for viewing stars and planets, but “light pollution” can also have a negative impact on the natural order of things that God created. This event and some of the things at the site can help you learn to lessen the impact…in fact they give a good example of how they influenced change in their community.

Personally, I appreciate the fact that our rural area has little artificial lighting, and our night skies are quite beautiful, we love to lay out on the deck when there’s a meteor shower and watch for falling stars, and look at the constellations. I can’t imagine not being able to appreciate this part of God’s creation.

The 6th Annual Dark Sky Festival is next weekend, April 25th, at Harmony, Florida, and it is a bit out of reach for us this year, but it’s free, and I’d be there if I could…if any of you visiting happen to go, please tell us about it in a comment!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 12:57 pm and is filed under Green Living, Wildlife. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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2 Responses to “Living Things Benefit from the Night Sky”

  1. 1
    Pat Montgomery Says:

    Interesting notes. I will check into it, but it makes sense. Some lights, like street lights are never off and I guess it does affect plants and animals.

    April 20th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
  2. 2
    admin Says:

    Hi Pat,

    Thanks for stopping by and for your comment. I am not sure of all the science and biology of the affect on plants and animals, but do love the fact that we have little artificial light around where we live and can enjoy the beautiful night sky on a clear night.

    With the April showers that bring May flowers, we’ve had quite a few cloudy ones lately :-)

    Thanks again!

    Claudia

    April 22nd, 2009 at 9:14 pm

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