Dark Sky Friendly Holiday Lighting?

Many winter holidays celebrate the winter solstice by bringing light to the long and dark nights. While a little bit of light can bring warmth and joy to the holiday season, too much light can cause glare and skyglow and cause negative health effects to humans and wildlife alike. This holiday season, be thoughtful in your outdoor outdoor holiday decorations. Below are some tips for decorating this holiday season.

• Use few lights, in the warmer color spectrum. Think about mimicking candlelight, which brings a lot of warmth and holiday cheer to the season. Avoid overly bright and blue lights, which can be harsh for both human and animal eyes.

• Small, warm, twinkling lights scattered among winter greeneries (evergreens, hollies) provide cheerful holiday decorations throughout the day and evenings.

• Put your outdoor lights on a timer, and turn them off by 11pm. This allows neighbors and friends to enjoy them in the evenings, while minimizing majority of the negative impacts to wildlife and reduces your electricity use.

• For path lighting, pick light fixtures with shields to direct the light where you need it. Unshielded lights can be very harsh and blinding. And turn off outdoor lights when not needed.

• Avoid up lights designed to illuminate the house or plants. These causes significant sky glow, disrupting circadian rhythm for humans and wildlife alike, and obscuring the stars that are typically the clearest in the winter.

Here are a few resources and tips to preserve Dark Skies in your yard and town.