Welcome to Dark Sky Friends: Responsible Outdoor Lighting At Night
Never thought about light pollution? NOW is the time to start thinking about it!
Our Mission Statement
Dark Sky Friends was created to promote the education of responsible outdoor lighting at night, to raise awareness of the devastation artificial lights are having on our lives, to advocate for strict local, state, regional, national and global protection from light trespass and light pollution, including regional master lighting plans.
Your contribution today helps us make a difference.
No matter how small or large an amount, you are helping and your generosity is very much appreciated! Thank you!
Stop Mommies, Stop Daddies
Stop mommies, Stop daddies
I want to see the stars too,
And chase the lightning bugs like you.
Don’t kill the night,
With all of our lights.
Save it for me.
Don’t steal it with your new bought glee.
May we turn out our lights?
Maybe for just one night?
So that I can raise my eyes,
To the stars above,
And feel the magic and mystery,
The velvety black night brings,
For now,
And for all of eternity.
Now may we turn down our lights,
And turn some off too,
So that I can grow,
Under this star filled sky
Free from the glow,
For the rest of my life?
And my children’s
and their children’s too?
by eileen Kragie
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Meet Our Founder: eileen Kragie
As founder of Dark Sky Friends, this new non-profit, and an advocate for Dark Sky International (formerly known as IDA - the International Dark Sky Association), I am committed to educating people about responsible outdoor light at night - ROLAN.
I’ve been aware of light trespass for decades as the gas station lights from across the alley from my Grandmother’s house in Ashland, Virginia glared into her yard, upper porch, and home. My last summer before moving back to Northern Virginia, Hale Bop was coming through. I spent the summer sleeping on my deck on the ridge in West Virginia near the Appalachian Trail in Harper’s Ferry watching it cross the night sky. I woke during those nights seeing the billions of stars rotating above me overhead.
Moving back to Vienna in 1998, I read that you could still see the Milky Way from Turner Farm Park. I am finding that hard to believe with all of the lights and glow they have created over the intervening years. Maybe you could?! I don’t know.