How bright the night can be

A Q&A with Dark Sky Advocate Betty Barr 

A lifelong outdoor enthusiast, Betty Barr grew up in Frankfort, Kentucky, studying the constellations in her backyard. After a 39-year career in pediatric dentistry in Denver, she returned to Frankfort. As a longtime advocate for the natural world, including for birds and to reclaim the night sky, Betty was integral in the planning and implementation of Frankfort’s Dark Sky event in April 2024. 

Betty was a featured panelist at the Louisville Audubon Society’s Lights Out Louisville launch event on August 22, 2024. This Q&A has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. 

Louisville Audubon Society (LAS): What’s the most important thing you’d like people to know about going Lights Out? 

Betty Barr: That it’s easy and absolutely everyone can do it.

And it doesn’t take a lot of financial resources, either. In fact, turning out lights saves energy, which means it also helps you save money. That’s a compelling reason to go Lights Out [beyond protecting migratory birds]. Even someone without the financial means to help out in other ways can make a difference by reducing artificial light at night during times of peak migration.

LAS: We definitely agree with you, but we also know some folks may be on the fence about adopting the initiative—for example, because many people assume bright outdoor lighting promotes safety.

Barr: I’d suggest people think about the time of day during which most crime occurs. When would someone be more likely to break into a house: at night, when you’re home, or during the day, when you’re at work or out running errands, and the house is empty? Having lived in Denver for 40 years, I know several folks whose homes were broken into exclusively during the daytime. 

LAS: Exactly. Even so, we know some people feel more comfortable having bright outdoor lights, and we’re not saying they need to get rid of them. Instead, we encourage people to use motion sensors. 

That one small change not only reduces light pollution at night—it also improves safety: If the lights go on only when triggered by movement, it helps alert you to an intruder. You won’t get that warning if your outdoor lights are just on constantly. 

Barr: Yes, education is key for people to realize they can reduce light pollution at night much more simply than they might expect, such as by using motion sensors for outdoor lighting. Apart from actually making your home safer, there are additional benefits, such as the money you save from less electricity usage. 

And—inside your home—closing curtains, dimming lights, and turning off unnecessary lights also helps you get a good night’s sleep by maintaining your natural circadian rhythm.

Conversely, too much lighting at night can throw off your circadian rhythm, which messes up the brain’s production of melatonin. Melatonin is an antioxidant, and if you throw off its production, you can set yourself up for diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer. 

Easy, safe, cost effective, healthy for us and for the planet—even if you don’t care about wildlife or birds, those should be pretty convincing reasons for going Lights Out.  

LAS: You helped plan and implement an event this past spring hosted by Dark Sky Frankfort, a Frankfort (Kentucky) Audubon Society committee that—like Lights Out Louisville—aims to help people understand the impact of artificial lighting at night on birds, animals, and humans. Tell us a little about that event.

Barr: Our first Dark Sky event occurred at Fort Hill, which is the highest point in downtown Frankfort. Being up so high helped illustrate just how bright urban lights can be. We could see the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet building, which is lit up like a firework every night. 

We also had stations set up where folks could learn about different features of the night sky, including some where they could view constellations and other astronomical objects through telescopes. 

One of our collaborators was Kelly Davenport, an excellent night-sky photographer from Louisville. Her station was very popular. Photographs like the ones Kelly shoots are highly accessible ways of showing people what a true dark sky looks like—allowing them to compare those images with the limited views of the night sky that we get in light-polluted areas. 

Other stations focused on light pollution’s impacts on wildlife and bird migration. The Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife brought an owl that had been injured because it was blinded by roadside lights while hunting. 

NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador Dan Price [another panelist at the Lights Out Louisville launch event] used the event as an opportunity to educate people about lighting design, including using “warm” versus “cool” tones to reduce light pollution. 

LAS: You’ve been to many designated Dark Sky Places. Do you have a favorite?

Barr: Since I was a little kid, I have always loved being outside, and as a canoe instructor up in the Adirondacks, I’d go out every night and look at the constellations—something I still do very often. 

However, it wasn’t until I moved to Colorado in 1977 that I came to understand how the sky can look in a remote, dry environment with no haze or light pollution. It is just so incredibly dark. 

But my absolute favorite place would be Chaco Canyon in New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park. [LAS note: Chaco Canyon was a thriving cultural center for ancestral Pueblo Indian people from 850 to 1250 C.E. The Chacoan sites now are part of the homeland of Pueblo Indian peoples of New Mexico, the Hopi Indians of Arizona, and the Navajo Indians of the Southwest.]

The first night I was there, it just floored me. It happened to be a new moon and the sky looked like something you’d expect from a planetarium—but even better, because it was real!