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Ken Walczak from Dark Sky International will present on the negative effects of light pollution and practical solutions ahead of the darkest day of the year, the winter solstice.
At every moment, half the world is at night. In a little more than a century, our uncontrolled use of light at night has upended this eons long environment. How does light pollution alter our world? We'll take a journey into what recent research has revealed about the effects of excessive light at night: from human health to ecosystems, from climate change to our loss of the starry skies, and more. We'll explore simple solutions that make light pollution the easiest pollution to solve and how you can help restore the night.
Ken Walczak is the owner of Night/Light Consulting helping individuals, businesses and governments create sustainable, nighttime friendly lighting solutions. He managed a science and engineering program at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago for 16 years working on the design and use of innovative instruments for light pollution research. He has authored numerous papers on the subject. He helped lead the international designation of the world’s largest Urban Night Sky Place, The Palos Preserves, southwest of Chicago. He is a trained photographer, an avid public policy advocate, and an experienced science and astronomy communicator. He holds a seat on the board of Dark Sky International, co-founded the DarkSky Chicago chapter and is a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES).
