Glowing, Glowing, Gone: What We Lose When We Turn On the Lights

It's easy to take darkness for granted because we've not yet had to live in a world without it. But its impacts are already being felt in our surroundings, from fireflies unable to find each other in an artificially lit night to astronomers unable to pinpoint stars once clearly seen, to bumblebees and cacti unable to get a good night's sleep. With the answer easily within reach, the only question is whether we'll amp up the darkness to let our world truly shine. 

Amy C. Oliver is Director of Smithsonian STARS— Scientists Taking Astronomy to Rural Schools— a program of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Public Affairs Officer and Science Center Manager at CfA’s Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, and SkyNights Presenter at University of Arizona’s Mount Lemmon SkyCenter. As an informal science educator and communicator, Amy works to bridge gaps in access to science learning opportunities for emerging and future scientists. She is Principal scientific investigator on Dark SkyNet— a cross-border light pollution monitoring network— and Project GLOWworm, which found unexpected glowworms above 8,000 ft. in Southern Arizona. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Master of Science from University of Oklahoma, and DEI certification from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Amy was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2021 and currently serves as Chair of the Tucson/Pima County Outdoor Lighting Code Committee.