What can kids do to become involved in preserving dark skies?
During April, kids pick which activities to do to become Dark Skies Rangers. They can:
- Do energy saving kinds of things, especially by helping make the sky darker at night. Turning off outdoor lights at a curfew like 10pm is the easiest.
- Figure out how much energy is saved if they replace an outdoor light with a Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL). Use “Home Outdoor Lighting Audit” worksheet.
- Ask older family members to change out an outdoor light for a more efficient bulb and perhaps shield the bulb so that the light is directed downward and the bulb is not seen.
- Build a “Magnitude Reader". Use it when observing the night sky, and find out how light polluted their sky is.
- Form an astronomy club at school and help their teachers host a star party.
- Write to their city council on behalf of saving dark skies and saving energy.
- Create art, photos, music, poetry or stories on the importance of maintaining dark skies.
For their efforts during the month, Dark Skies Rangers can download a certificate and an “Our Globe at Night” poster from the GAM Dark Skies Awareness website on April 30, Dark Skies Rangers Day.
Further activities to introduce children to how light pollution affects energy use and wildlife as well as astronomy, how to light responsibly, and how to measure the darkness of your night sky, visit Dark Skies Awareness website. The International Dark-Sky Association has a new activity book for GAM called Nighttime Rocks!
