Dark Sky West Marin Needs Your Help Our work is moving at the speed of light, and we’re looking for help. Love looking at the stars? Dark Sky West Marin is looking for volunteers to help us protect Marin’s beautiful nightscapes. If you can help: Please email Peggy Day or Laura Arndt .
[from Wild Birds Unlimited in Novato, CA.]Reduce Lights at Night to Help Migrating Birds Every spring and fall, billions of birds migrate through North America, mostly under the cover of darkness. Unfortunately, they face an increasing threat: unnatural, man-made light. Light attracts and disorients migrating birds, making them vulnerable to collisions with buildings. The solution … Read more
Great time to listen to this podcast about the creation of Dark Sky West Marin Project, featuring interviews with many of the original founders: Notalgia, by Vanessa Lowe. Vanessa Lowe is an independent podcast producer who created an exploration of night and darkness titled “Nocturne” in 2014. Her stories were distributed by KCRW from 2018 … Read more
April 3, 2024 Dark Sky Week is only 2 days old, and everything is looking up! Laura Arndt and Don Jolley started on Monday, a day early, with this month’s stargazing trek. On Tuesday, Laura & Dan Smiley took turns tabling in front of the Point Reyes Post office, offering Dark Sky information and engaging … Read more
Everywhere we go, miracles happen. We’ve had so much overwhelming support that it makes my heart sing. But DarkSky West Marin is facing its first challenge and needs your help. In May this year, the Point Reyes National Seashore followed a DarkSky International recommendation to file a separate application from our DarkSky West Marin villages. … Read more
Dark Sky West Marin and Point Reyes Station Village Association are sponsoring a great event about the effects of light pollution on wildlife and ecosystems.We are very lucky to have Joe Mueller, Professor of Biology speak on this subject.Light pollution is increasing at a rate of 10% a year, and the effects are felt by more than … Read more
We’re happy to announce a new name for our initiative! DarkSky Point Reyes is now DarkSky West Marin. The initiative continues to include the unincorporated coastal villages of Stinson Beach, Bolinas, Olema, Inverness, Inverness Park, Point Reyes, Marshall, Tomales, Valley Ford, & Dillon Beach, Seadrift, Oceana Marin, Nicasio, San Geronimo, Woodacre, Forrest Knolls, Lagunitas, and … Read more
(How to handle a neighbor’s light that keeps you awake.) Folks ‘round here pride themselves in being good neighbors. We watch out for each other’s places and, if anyone is ever in need of assistance, we all pitch in and help. But there’s one thing that some of us are not so good at and … Read more
Opinion today 5/5/23 in Washington Post: . . . “I’m grateful to the DarkSky Committee. Its members have no authority (there’s no law restricting my lumens), but theywere persuasive. It turns out my lights weren’t doing much harm to neighbors, but they were doinga whole lot of harm to other living things.Night skies have been … Read more
Stargazing citizen scientists show how constellations are dimming at an alarming rate 19 Jan 2023. 2:20 PM By Joshua Sokol The star pattern Western astronomers call Orion has long drawn our eyes to the night skies. Some Ki’che’ Maya people see it as a cosmic hearth. For the Khoisan people of southern Africa, it’s an … Read more