Natural Lightscape Management
A Cultural Resource
When we look up at a dark night sky, we are essentially seeing the same sky that humans have looked upon for thousands of years. It is the same sky that has motivated cultures from around the world. The impression of a dark and starry sky has evoked countless myths, art, literature, and religion. It has been rightly called "The Ultimate Cultural Resource." The night sky is a timeless and boundless resource.
People were probably much more connected to the rhythms and wonders of the night sky before the widespread use of electric lighting. The sky marked the changing of the seasons, and the passage of time. It represented order, yet was mutable. The night sky has held images and patterns reflecting the beliefs and morals of various societies. Its importance is everywhere— from Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, to tales of escaped slaves following the drinking gourd, from the architectural alignments of ancestral Puebloans at Chaco Canyon, to the Washington Monument mimicking a giant gnomon at the center of a sundial, and from lyrics of your favorite songs to a parent teaching their child the constellations for the first time.
The night sky has also been an important scientific resource. First hand observations of the heavens were critical to the Age of Enlightenment, allowing Newton to write the laws of gravity, Galileo to place our sun at the center of the solar system, and for Einstein to imagine the fabric of the universe. These discoveries, in turn, had a palpable influence on culture, religion, and art. Today, space is still the frontier of science, enticing children to become astronauts and concealing some of the greatest questions humans have ever asked.