Is anyone aware of any actual studies into the benefits of dark sky areas for communities?

[kev100]

Hi, I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and aside from somewhat anecdotal evidence, about benefits for wildlife, and being able to see more stars, is anyone aware of any actual concrete benefits for communities within dark sky areas? I’m thinking cold hard evidential benefits ... things that will convince the general public, not just enthusiasts .... Things like house prices going up, upturns in visitor numbers, leisure industry revenue generating opportunities, preventing undesirable planning decisions. 

Now that we’ve had dark sky areas for a while, like the brecons, exmoor, Skye, etc, surely someone’s following up these areas for signs of general benefits ...?

It would really help the case for cutting back on light pollution, etc if we could point to a report or scientific/government website listing the benefits...

Kev

[ngwillym]

you might fid something here:- International Dark Sky Association | International Dark-Sky Association

[John]

Here is one from 2009:

https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp.117-a20

 

 

[John]

Something from the UK Lake District on benefits for tourism:

https://www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/importance-of-dark-skies-to-tourism

 

[happy-kat]

CPRE maybe on that site

Edited March 8, 2021 by happy-kat

[Zermelo]

There are some documents here:  https://britastro.org/dark-skies/downloads.php

"Hard" evidence might be in short supply though, especially of a kind that would persuade non-astro types.

Bob Mizon gave a talk here last year that you might find interesting.

[kev100]

Thanks guys, lots of good info there. The link to the lake District site is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. I presume that similar reports must have been done for the Brecons, etc. More like this would be good:

"Dark Sky Park Economic Impact Assessment, November 2013 looked at the impact on local business a year after Galloway Forest Park in Scotland became an International Dark Skies Association (IDA) Dark Sky Park.(2) The report found that for every £1 spent on installing dark sky friendly lighting in the area, there was a return on investment of £1.93, due to an increase in tourism, and concluded that the economic benefits are probably much more. In the case of the Kielder Water and Northumberland National Park Dark Skies Park, a survey of tourism businesses in 2017 revealed there was a £25million+ boost to the local economy, supporting 450 jobs."

Maybe the dark sky APPG will publish something concrete soon? 

 

 

[scarp15]

A study undertaken on ecological and economic benefits for switching off street lighting. 

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/archive/2019/01/streetlighting/

[Aramcheck]

These have I think all been mentioned, but may be worth looking at:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-17988825
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2017-0241/

In the US there have been studies on the financial benefits from Dark Sky tourism, which are summarised on this IDA page: https://www.darksky.org/3-benefits-of-a-dark-sky-designation/

There are also largely unquantified financial benefits in increased (& better quality) crop pollination from nocturnal insects (eg peas, rapeseed & elder flower). There is mention of "a study of soya-bean farms in Illinois which found that the light from adjacent roads and passing cars could be delaying the maturation of crops by up to seven weeks, as well as reducing yield." in the Jan 2018 'Dark Side of Light' article in Nature:-
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-00665-7
(link to original paper is in article too)

There is also the artificial light at night database, which contains over 2000 research papers on all aspects of the light pollution. Unfortunately public access has been disabled at the moment, but I hope that isn't permanent:- http://alandb.darksky.org/

Cheers
Ivor

[Second Time Around]

Lighting makes us feel safer, but the reality is that we're actually less safe.

From Wikipedia: "Security lighting can be counter-productive. Turning off lights halved the number of thefts and burglary in Övertorneå Sweden.  A test in West Sussex UK showed that adding all-night lighting in some areas made people there feel safer, although crime rates increased 55% in those areas compared to control areas and to the county as a whole."

Don't forget that burglars also need to see.  If it's dark they need to use a torch and that draws attention to them - which is the last thing they want to do.  Bear in mind that the majority of burglaries happen in broad daylight!

Security companies delight in making us feel vulnerable so that we buy their products.  I wonder if they have a vested interest?

Unfortunately, because the public as a whole now feels insecure there's pressure on politicians to back increased lighting.  After all, most politicians aren't concerned with facts; what matters to them are votes.

So firstly public opinion has to change.  Eventually I suspect it will as peer pressure on climate change becomes more and more effective.  Sadly, it's unlikely to happen soon enough for my generation.