This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
10/20/2021 08:30 AMThere’s a rather ominous moniker to a beneficial concept Bob Crelin has been promoting for the past 24 years: “dark skies.”
“Dark is just a four-letter word—it’s part of nature; it’s not scary,” says Bob. “It’s not about darkening; it’s about directing light so it’s physiologically, biologically, and environmentally best.”
Newer residents may not recognize that, since 1997, Branford has been at the forefront of regulating lighting that promotes dark skies town wide, through fixture shielding and other simple practices—thanks in no small part to Bob, a Branford native.
Bob says it’s Branford’s administrations through the years, its concerned citizens, and its zoning and regulatory officials and commissions that deserve the credit for running with a simple idea he brought to their attention all those years ago.
“Branford is very important, even internationally, as a place where dark skies got started,” says Bob. “For the uninitiated, Branford has been at the forefront of a lot of this, and is still continuing to affect communities around the world, because of what we did in the ’90s in enacting those laws and showing you actually could do it.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m., Bob will give a free Zoom lecture, “Night, Light & Sight: The Importance of Dark Skies,” presented by Living Wisely and Well on Planet Earth (find a link to the lecture at www.livingwiselyandwell.org) The Branford-based group, which provides free informational lectures and programs, is billing Bob’s talk as “an eye-opening conversation/visual program about our prevalent use of artificial light at night and its environmental and biological impacts to all living things, as well as tips on what we can do to help restore the starry skies.”
For Bob, a designer, author, amateur astronomer, and all-around creative type, the idea of getting Branford on board with a thoughtful approach to turning lighting away from the night sky started in his backyard. Back in 1994, Bob wanted his young daughter to see something he could spot in Branford’s night sky as a kid: the familiar band of the Milky Way galaxy.
“We couldn’t find it. The Milky Way of my boyhood was gone, hidden behind artificial skyglow stretching from horizon to horizon,” Bob wrote, in his popular 2006 Sky & Telescope article, “How I Beat Light Pollution in My Hometown.” (Find the original articla at skyandtelescope.org.)
The article, which also outlines how Bob reached out to his community to raise awareness and support, and worked with the Town of Branford to revise lighting regulations, has since brought Bob, and Branford, international recognition. It also shares a one-page sheet Bob helped the town develop as part of the regulations, which gives illustrations of acceptable, encouraged shielded lighting fixtures as well as those that are not. The paper has come to be known worldwide as “the Branford sheet,” says Bob.
“Since the laws were passed, people still contact me, asking for the Branford sheet. Some are writing articles and books, but most are saying, ‘Hey, we’re putting laws in our town, and this is perfect,’” says Bob.
In fact, the Branford sheet has been around so long, that, when he shares it now, “...I have to put in a disclaimer that this will show you what shielding is acceptable, but LED fixtures have thrown a curve in this,” says Bob.
When the program was first instituted here, incandescent lights were the norm, and inserting those bulbs into properly shielded fixtures worked well. Now that lighting has become LED-based, the flat, chip-based lighting’s placement is different, and any shielding is diminished.
It’s something that’s especially noticeable in many updated street lights around the state, says Bob, who also had a hand in helping to develop a couple of state laws early on that introduced shielding for street lights.
Another issue with LEDs is that the chips commonly emit a blue-white light that the human eye equates to daylight, and that has a disruptive impact on people at night, says Bob. For a cost, LEDs can be altered to the more yellow- and orange-toned night lighting of incandescent bulbs, but to date, the state laws have not been updated to call for such alterations.
Bob says a great example of that type of altered LED lighting that also meets dark skies lighting goals is on display nightly at Branford’s newly renovated Walsh Intermediate School on Damascus Road.
More than Meets the Eye
“When I give a talk in a public forum, I have an actual LED bulb that I use to flip through different color temperatures on that bulb, and I can show you how your eye responds to different colors, going from something really blue to really more orange,” says Bob. “It’s just fascinating, because you’re watching your own biology adapting to a changing light source.”
The importance of night’s darkness is “unknown to most, but is so fundamental to the way we are,” he adds.
For example, the body produces melatonin at night, a hormone that’s associated with control of our sleep–wake cycle. Jarring, blue-white light at night is equal to the type of light emitted in sunlight, throwing off our body’s natural response to darkness.
“We haven’t been in this ‘built environment’ long enough in order to evolve into some sort of creature that’s expecting light at night,” says Bob. “Our eyes are still designed for the old world, and so are our hormonal systems.”
As Bob pointed out when first bringing the dark skies concept to Branford, bright, glaring light at night actually makes it harder to see and the area it’s lighting less safe.
“It’s actually about being able to see,” he says. “There’s a nominal point where you can see really well, and see peripherally, where there’s less contrast,” he says.
Bright lights create glare and contrast, resulting in starkly lit areas surrounded by areas of deep darkness. Less glare and contrast is also best for night lighting that’s meant to deter “the opportunity for crime on a property,” says Bob. “An opportunity presents itself when the lighting is so bad, it creates such deep dark shadows that you can’t see in those areas.”
One image Bob has shared in his talks is of a former Branford car dealership “with floodlights aimed out at the street. Those were there to provide security, but you wouldn’t even want to look that way. And if you did, you couldn’t see if anything was going on—all you’d see was the lights.”
Directed light, shielded to point downward, allows the eye to see the area that’s being lit, not the light itself. That provides for better vision and safety and also keeps much of the light from going into the night sky above. Today, many such examples of dark sky lighting can be seen at commercial spaces in Branford—“...just drive down Route 1,” says Bob.
That’s not to say all of Branford’s commercial lighting is in compliance, but much of the reason for that is actually part of the regulation’s measured approach, which takes costs into consideration. While new lighting fixtures need to comply upon installation, existing businesses with older lighting need to comply when it comes time to replace or upgrade lighting due to wear and tear.
“I like that, because I was looking at it as to have this kind of conversation and bring the awareness, not saying a business has to change tomorrow, but when it’s time to replace or restore it,” says Bob. “It’s as fair as it could possibly be.”
Next year, the Town of Branford will make a noticeable change to meet the requirements, when the 30-year-old lighting elements in lantern fixtures on the Branford Green will be upgraded to comply with the regulations, as part of the town’s spring 2022 Main Street renovation project.
Benefiting Branford
Bob, who resides in Branford with his wife, Suzanne, says it feels good to know that some steps he took more than two decades ago have had a beneficial impact on his hometown.
“You want to do something good, if you can, to help guide the future for your kids, your grandkids, for everybody,” he says. “I’ve watched the growth of Branford from the beginning of my life, and I’m happy with where things are going and have been supported by a lot of the administrations here.”