Dirty light makes the beauty of the sky invisible. In Artis they are doing something about it

Upon entering the Artis zoo in Amsterdam, you can hear the loud singing of the golden-cheeked gibbons. Their symphony mixes with wolf howls, birds descend from high branches – rain is coming. Nevertheless, there is a serene atmosphere in the pitch dark. A group of visitors enter the park, their phones put away. They walk slowly, taking in the darkness. Above them, a crescent moon shines through the clouds. The night is about to begin.

If everything goes according to plan, Artis will become Europe’s first Urban Dark Sky Place in 2025. A step that not only brings the starry sky closer, but is also a plea for the necessity and beauty of darkness.

A generation is growing up that will never see the stars again

“More than 80 percent of the world’s population lives under light-polluted skies, and pollution is rapidly increasing every year. Recent research shows that light pollution is increasing 10 percent every year – a rate of growth much faster than that of the world’s population,” said Drew Reagan of Dark Sky International, the nonprofit organization dedicated to dark night skies. “A generation is growing up that will never see the stars again. The starry sky is slowly becoming a myth, something you only see in films and documentaries. The older generation has noctalgia: a longing for a time when the night was still really dark.” But the starry sky is not the only thing at stake. “A natural day-night cycle is essential for the functioning of ecosystems and the health of humans and animals.”

Dark Sky International was founded in 1988 as an interest group for astronomers in the US. It was a response to rapid urban development in desert-like Arizona, where there are many large telescopes. It started with local initiatives, such as guidelines for street lighting. There are now more than 220 certified Dark Sky sites worldwide, ranging from remote nature parks to urban areas. Together they cover an area four times the size of the Netherlands.

Also in the Netherlands, right in the shining heart of Western Europe, there are two Dark Sky Parks on the dark outer edge: Lauwersmeer National Park in Groningen and De Boschplaat on Terschelling. These are rare places that offer a view of the Milky Way on cloudless nights: the billions of stars of our galaxy, visible as a milky white strip in the sky. This view is one of the requirements to obtain Dark Sky Park status.

The penny that dropped

The Urban Dark Sky Place category is relatively new, with slightly more flexible guidelines – you will almost never see the Milky Way in an urban environment. “These locations are not completely dark, but they do have a much wider reach among the population,” says Reagan, “which will hopefully lead to policies to reduce light pollution on a larger scale.”

Milo Grootjen, head of the Artis Planetarium, agrees. During a presentation by professor of neurophysiology Joke Meijer, who specializes in biorhythms, the penny dropped. “She showed that a light next to a sleeping toddler may look cute, but disrupts the child’s day-night rhythm. And how you can destroy the biodiversity of your garden with mood lighting.” Grootjen also noticed the lack of night in the planetarium’s education programs. “Many children in the city grow up without ever seeing the starry sky. That is worrying.”

Grootjen realized that Artis is ideally suited to become a protection area. “It is a park where we can turn off the lights ourselves. We are easily accessible and can therefore inspire many people about nature. It offers enormous opportunities for education. And it overlaps with our most important task: caring for our animals.”

“Moreover, Artis is its own territory,” adds sustainability coordinator Savitri Groag. In practice, turning off lights was quite difficult. “186 years of history are also intertwined in the installation of the indoor and outdoor lighting. Some lights are difficult to turn off. An aerial platform had to be used to turn off the lights in the aviary of the Hollandse Polder. Moreover, Artis also has modern equipment with permanent screen light.”

It’s contagious

Turning off the lights has a contagious effect, Groag notes. “Colleagues help us and are also becoming increasingly rebellious: then someone somewhere has seen an unnecessary light and jokingly suggests pulling the plug. Hopefully, after a night at Artis, our visitors will also be inspired to limit distracting lighting in the outside world.”

Artis wants to organize monthly night walks from next fall. There was already a pilot on Christmas Eve this year. Visitors then simultaneously walked slowly and silently in the darkness and feasted their ears on the sounds of the night: the permanent zoo residents and the city animals that take refuge there every night. Grootjen sees the obtained certificate as an opportunity to create awareness. “We want to inspire people. It is not only good for the animals, but also for ourselves. Dark is less scary or unsafe than many people think and actually offers room for wonder.”

Drew Reagan applauds Artis’ initiative. “Cities are places where the problem is most visible, but where you can also make the most difference.”

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