I’ve been put here to celebrate Fownhope’s Dark Skies.

Can I invite you to join that celebration — and help keep our skies truly dark?

Light pollution is the human-made brightening of the sky, an artificial twilight that never quite ends. It blurs the line between day and night, and slowly washes the stars away.

Too much light at the wrong time confuses wildlife: owls hunt when they shouldn’t, moths circle lamps until they’re spent, trees hold their leaves too long. It disturbs our own rhythms too, dulling our sleep and our sense of time.

Every unshielded light wastes energy and money, pouring power into empty air, and adds needlessly to carbon emissions. And what we lose in all this glare is something ancient — the unbroken view of the stars that has guided travellers, storytellers, and dreamers for as long as we’ve been here.

Yet the answer is simple. Turn lights down, not off. Point them where they’re needed, not at the sky. Choose warmer tones, shorter hours.

Each small change helps the night recover — helps owls hunt, moths rest, stars return.

That’s my invitation to you: to care for our quiet skies.