SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — A few decades ago, a large percentage of Americans could see the Milky Way from their backyards.
Now, thanks to light pollution, the Milky Way is washed out for 80 percent of Americans. The group known as the International Dark Sky Association, or IDA, is working to change that.
The president of the South Dakota chapter of the IDA, Diane Broyhill-Knutson, is giving two talks on the topic in the coming week, Tuesday February 18th, 7 pm at Good Earth State Park, and Friday February 21st, 6:30 pm at the Outdoor Campus.
Broyhill says bright white lights that point upwards create so much glare that they defeat their intended purpose of helping us see what we want to see.
She says amber lights that point down and have full cutoff are much more effective and are often actually more cost-effective.
She and the IDA are working on helping government officials, business owners and homeowners to understand this so that we can reclaim the natural resource of our beautiful night skies.
At both events, members of the SouthEast South Dakota Astronomy Club will be on hand to share telescope and binocular views of the heavens.
(Colin Strombeck of KELO Radio News contributed this report.)
