From childhood to this day the stars mesmerize me. Contemplating if we came from them and if it's the stardust we are made of. The stars give me a fresh creative energy in possibilities of wonderment. The glimmer of the night sky has always been apart of my culture. Sometimes taking them for granted, thinking they would always exist as long as I am on this planet to see them. Recently I realized how foolish I was to think they would always be. The stars are fading in my little NW Iowa town. They are not as bright as they were when I was a child and I question if we all are slowly forgetting how beautiful they really are.

Why are the stars fading? I believe its tax dollars working at its worst in the unreasonable overuse of city lights. Why spend money on the over-abundance of lighting infrastructure that lights the sky? This absolutely makes no sense to me. While standing here we do not use the sky for anything, but to star gaze at the Milky Way. Northeast of my home in Arnolds Park the Milky Way is gobbled up by an orange glow from the City of Spirit Lake. This is unsettling, as I feel part of my childhood culture is being stolen by artificial light.

So what do we do? We learn from example and continue in a positive direction for development of smart practices in city planning. Having low light communities simply means to use low wattage lights sparingly with full cut off shields. These shields direct light to the ground and not upwards to the sky. These are basic methods that can be invested in and will save money and the dark sky in the long run. For more information please visit http://www.darksky.org