Our Mission
As Dark Sky Friends founder and president, a non-profit, and a DarkSky International (formerly known as International Dark Sky Association IDA) advocate, I am committed to educating people about ROLAN - responsible outdoor light at night.
Dark Sky Friends was created to advocate for strong local, state, regional, national and global protection from light trespass and light pollution. Local outdoor lighting ordinances, legislation and regional master lighting plans are key to solving this problem.
Dark Sky Friends promotes the education of responsible outdoor lighting at night and the awareness of the harmful impacts artificial light at night is having on our lives and our shared environments.
Dark Sky Friends works to eliminate light trespass, to advocate for local, state and national ordinances and legislation to prevent light pollution and light trespass across the globe. To promote the responsible use of artificial light and to inform of the wide ranging damage it is causing by helping support the work DarkSky International.
How We're Helping
We advocate for responsible outdoor lighting at night - ROLAN. We are fighting light pollution and light trespass. We provide education for solving this issue by using smart, intelligent, considerate lighting by promoting the work of DarkSky International.
A short, but powerful demonstration of the effect of unshielded light at night.
We advocate for dark sky friendly ordinances at the local, state and regional level. We support the mission and work of the DarkSky International also known as International Dark Sky Association and DarkSky NOVA.
We support the Fairfax County Park Authority, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts , National Park Service, George Mason University Observatory, Audubon Society, Sierra Club, GW Community School , Analemma Society, Northern Virginia Astronomy Club, Friends of Wolf Trap Northern Virginia Bird Alliance and other organizations whose missions also include fighting light trespass and providing education to the public.
We support Firefly.org whose mission is to educate about fireflies and also has created a Certified Firefly Habitat program to promote a healthy environment to fireflies and other native creatures. And we support Audubon At Home and National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat
Support Lights Out programs for the migrating birds. Migration corridors cover the United States as birds migrate north every spring and south on their return trip each fall. Birdcast enables you to watch and track the bird migration in your community and see what birds are flying overhead as you sleep at night.
Cover your windows at night to prevent light from escaping and turn your outside lights off to protect birds. And do this all year long, not just during migration season.
See more of the organizations we support here
We can’t trespass on someone else’s property. Why can our lights?
What are the effects of light pollution?
A growing body of evidence links the brightening night sky directly to measurable negative impacts on:
Thank You
Whether you help through monetary donations, volunteering your time, or spreading our mission through word-of-mouth, thank you. We couldn't accomplish our goals without the help of supporters like you.
Get Involved
Are you passionate about what we're doing? Let us know! We are always looking for volunteers to help us make our vision a reality. We'll help you find a way to volunteer that best suits you. We're excited to have you join the team! Contact us.