Night Lights: Preserving the View from Baraboo

On Thursday, September 10, 2026, Cliff Nieuwenhuis presented the program "Night Lights: Preserving the View from Baraboo". In this slide presentation, Cliff traced the history of electric lights, since Thomas Edison's patent for the electric lamp in 1880. Referring to publicly available documents in the ALAN database on the zotero.org website, Cliff noted the development of scientific research on the effects of artificial light on "natural processes such as growing crops, breeding animals, and physical fitness". Cliff pointed out that astronomers were the first people to raise the alarm of how outdoor artificial lights can obscure the view of celestial bodies, such as the Perseid meteor showers (Science News, August, 1930).

Cliff has had a life-long interest in astronomy. In 2014, he received training at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin to lead Skynet Junior Scholars (SJS) 4-H projects. After running SJS classes for his local 4-H club, he took further training and became involved with the development of a 4-H project book for the SJS program. The curriculum included many activities related to astronomy, including astrophotography, where students could learn how to use a digital camera to take pictures of the night sky.

Using photos that he has taken over the years, Cliff showed the difference in photographs of the same area of night sky when outdoor lights obscured much of the view of the sky. His presentation went on to give the definition of light pollution:

(i) forms of matter or energy that

(ii) are produced by human activity,

(iii) are present in the environment in concentrations that alter the natural ones and

(iv) cause or may reasonably cause harm to humans, the environment and/or other goods of any nature.

Cliff went on to specify the negative effects light pollution has on animals, such as birds, bats, sea turtles, fish, plants, and insects, such as fireflies, as well as its detrimental effects on humans. Cliff described how the sources of light pollution are not only earth-bound but are also caused by satellites in low orbit around earth that have been launched by big tech companies.

Using examples of illustrations of a garage or shed that might be on many city streets, Cliff demonstrated how using the five principles for outdoor lighting that are outlined by DarkSky International can provide for safe lighting of outdoor spaces, while minimizing the negative effects of outdoor lighting. DarkSky International is a nonprofit organization that establishes science-supported standards for dark sky lighting, educates the public about the effects of excessive outdoor lighting, approve lighting products that reduce light pollution, and certify outdoor spaces that meet DarkSky lighting standards, and work with communities that want to establish DarkSky-compliant outdoor lighting codes.

The Five Principles for DarkSky approved outdoor lighting are

Useful - Use light only if it is needed

Targeted - Direct light so it falls only where it is needed.

Low level - Light should be no brighter than necessary.

Controlled - Use light only when it is needed.

Warm-colored - Use warmer-color lights where possible.

Cliff gave practical advice about choices people, businesses, and communities can make to plan and implement outdoor lighting that creates less light pollution. His presentation also gave background information about Powered Up Baraboo and its action teams, as well as the work of DarkSky International.