Dark Skies Awareness Cornerstone Project for the International Year of Astronomy

Mathematics – Logic

Scientific paper

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[0800] Education, [0805] Education / Elementary And Secondary Education, [0815] Education / Informal Education, [0830] Education / Teacher Training

Scientific paper

Programs that were part of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) Dark Skies Awareness (DSA) Cornerstone Project have been successfully implemented around the world to promote social awareness of the effects of light pollution on public health, economic issues, ecological consequences, energy conservation, safety and security, nightscape aesthetics and especially astronomy. In developing the programs, DSA Cornerstone Project found that to influence cultural change effectively — to make people literally look up and see the light — we must make children a main focus, use approaches that offer involvement on many levels, from cursory to committed, and offer involvement via many venues. We must make the programs and resources as turn-key as possible, especially for educators — and provide ways to visualize the problem with simple, easily grasped demonstrations. The programs spanned a wide range; from new media technology for the younger generation, to an event in the arts, to various types of educational materials, to the promotion of dark skies communities, to national and international events and to global citizen science programs. The DSA Cornerstone Project is continuing most all of these programs beyond IYA2009. The International Dark-Sky Association as well as the Starlight Initiative is endorsing and helping to continue with some of the most successful programs from the DSA. The GLOBE at Night campaign is adding a research component that examines light pollution’s affects on wildlife. Dark Skies Rangers activities are being implemented in Europe through the Galileo Teacher Training Program. The new “One Star at a Time” will engage people to protect the night sky through personal pledges and registration of public stargazing areas or StarParks, like the newest one in Italy. The Starlight Initiative’s World Night in Defence of the Starlight will take place on the Vernal Equinox. DSA will again oversee the Dark Skies portion of Global Astronomy Month, in which the International Dark Sky Week will be celebrated. DSA will be collaborating with Belgium’s “Night of Darkness” to endeavor to make that lights out event a more global event. DSA will endeavor to support dark skies education worldwide, as in Northern Ireland. DSA will seek to expand light pollution prevention campaigns like Austria’s. People whose homes meet the criteria of good lighting are invited to put a sticker from Austria’s biggest newspaper in their front window to show their support. DSA also seeks to collaborate with the IAU Office for Astronomy Development. The presentation will focus on the DSA programs during IYA and the sustainability of the DSA programs after IYA, as well as the expansion to other programs worldwide, with particular emphasis in communicating dark skies awareness with the public and its educational value in attracting young people to study science and technology. See www.darkskiesawareness.org for more information on the programs.

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