On November 3, at 12 – 1pm, the Livingston County Planning Department is hosting a bag lunch presentation on “Reducing Light Pollution for Night Sky Viewing” by Robert Parrish, Vice President of Cass County Parks and Recreation Board and Delegate of the International Dark-Sky Association. The Brown Bag Lunch Series brings together planning professionals, local governments […]
Pittsburgh passed a comprehensive lighting ordinance, as reported by NPR.
The Ann Arbor City Council unanimously adopted our group’s lighting ordinance on Sept 7, 2021! It will apply to all new construction and major renovations on private property. It specifies requirements for shielding, light trespass limits, brightness limits for certain applications, curfews for businesses, and limits on blue spectrum lighting, among other things. Many thanks
The Ann Arbor Lighting Ordinance will be presented to the City Council on August 2, 2021. There will be a public hearing on August 16. Public comment is welcome. The Council is expected to vote on whether to approve at the August 16 meeting.
CNN reports that nearly twenty buildings in Philadelphia are dimming their lights this spring after thousands of birds perished in the city’s largest mass collision in recent history. Michigan Audubon has a similar Safe Passage Great Lakes program.
MLive reports that Keweenaw Mountain Lodge on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is working toward approval for Dark Sky Park status from the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). They would be the third IDA Dark Sky Park after Headlands and T. K. Lawless.
Popular Science provides an overview of the International Dark-Sky Association’s Dark Sky Places program. The IDA Dark Sky Parks in Michigan are Headlands in Emmet County and Dr. T. K. Lawless in Cass County.
A new dark-sky group in Chelsea has organized and has recommended a few revisions to the Chelsea Zoning Ordinance to improve and update the lighting ordinance. They described their efforts at the March 13 Chelsea Community Forum. Contact ChelseaDarkSkies@gmail.com for more info, or to join.
A swarm of 46 million grasshoppers was lured by the lights of Las Vegas and died there. More evidence that light pollution is a major cause of the insect apocalypse, as reported by the New York Times.
March 15 – May 31 is Safe Passage Great Lakes Days: Ann Arbor and State of Michigan ask owners of tall buildings to turn off lights to save migrating birds. The fall dates are August 15 – October 31. Reported by Channel 4 Click on Detroit.
