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Julia Fiedorczuk
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Through my bedroom window I can see a large rectangle of sky. The window faces west. During the day it gradually fills with light, becoming enriched towards the evening with many shades of red. If I don’t have to go out, I sometimes work in bed, looking up at the sky from time to time in order to gather my thoughts or to rest. It’s truly amazing how quickly the view changes, especially when it’s cloudy. One cannot step into the same river twice; likewise, one cannot look at the same sky more than once. Clouds are shape-shifting quietly, letting in more light, then less light. Fluffy vehicles leave the window frame never to return.

It was cold in mid-April and the light was bright and sharp as a razor, soft contours of clouds stood out clearly against it. One day I was watching the springtime spectacle of the sky, looking up, every now and then, from the biography of Rachel

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All the Dark We Cannot See All the Dark We Cannot See
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Illustration by Kazimierz Wiśniak
Nature

All the Dark We Cannot See

The Disruptive Effects of Light Pollution
Agnieszka Fiedorowicz

“The night sky is the heritage of all humanity, which should therefore be preserved and untouched,” proclaims the resolution of the International Astronomical Union. Excess light affects not only the lives of humans, but also interferes with the functioning of animals and plants. We need darkness to survive, just as we need light.

“When I think of dark nights, I think of this lake in northern Minnesota. On the longest day of the year, my father and I watch as the sun sets across the water and night begins filling a clear sky. Soon the Summer Triangle stands directly over us, Scorpio rises from the bay to the left. […] As a child I was afraid of night at the lake because the dark was so thick it seemed tangible […] like drapery. And the woods are still that way, but the sky is beginning to wear at the edges where gas stations hope to attract customers by immolating themselves in white light, and roadside restaurants blow their electricity bills straight into the sky. Each summer when I return to the lake I am no longer so much afraid of the dark as I am afraid for the dark,” wrote Paul Bogard in his essay published in the collection Let There Be Night: Testimony on Behalf of the Dark. Bogard, who is a professor of creative writing at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, was one of 28 authors explaining how important darkness is for humans. This isn’t Bogard’s first book on the topic. Five years ago, he wrote The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light, where he explained how an excess of light can affect and disrupt the functioning of humans, animals and plants. “Just as we need light, we also need darkness to live,” he argues.

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