Advocates Push For Solutions To Light Pollution In Northern VA

VIENNA, VA — In the populated Northern Virginia, it may take a drive out to a more remote area to see more stars in the night sky. But advocates for dark skies aren't simply concerned about excess lighting making it harder to see stars in the night sky. They say light pollution also has an adverse effect on human health.

Eileen Kragie, who has lived in Vienna since 1969, got involved with the light pollution issue because of issues with neighbors' lighting. She joined Dark Sky International and ended up creating her own nonprofit, Dark Sky Friends, to focus on legislation addressing light pollution.

"Light pollution is growing at twice the rate of the population, and it's doubling every eight years," said Kragie. "And in some places, scientists predict in 20 years, no stars will be visible. And we happen to be living in one of those areas, which is depressing."

Kragie says Fairfax County has made addressing light pollution one of its goals for years. In the Town of Vienna, the recent code update was the first major overhaul since 1969 and included added language about lighting. Localities in Northern Virginia and a Virginia General Assembly resolution also recognized International Dark Sky Week, which encourages people to turn off their lights and enjoy the night sky.

"They're all on record for supporting this issue and recognizing all the facets that it impacts," said Kragie. "So that includes the human health and the environment, as well as just obscuring the night sky. And you find that when people understand that, most people just haven't thought about it and they don't know about it. So that's why it's so important that everybody get involved in educating about this. So I'm asking the local jurisdictions to get involved with educating about the problem, and you need the ordinances on top of that."

Kragie has been receiving help with the dark skies effort from fellow Vienna resident Nicole Caplan, a rising sophomore at Duke University. Over the summer, Caplan has been working on outreach and creating educational materials about the harmful effects of light pollution to human health. Caplan got involved after participating in Vienna's Conservation and Sustainability Commission, which has worked on light pollution among other issues.

"I think it's just really important, because not many people know about how light pollution affects you, and not just like the environment," Caplan told Patch. "So I think that especially with the human health impacts of light pollution, it's really important to kind of bring more awareness to that."

So what are the health impacts of light pollution? Caplan says it disrupts people's circadian rhythm, a natural cycle of physiological processes over 24 hours that keeps people alive.

"A balanced circadian rhythm is essential for our health and wellbeing," said Caplan. "But unfortunately, light pollution severely disrupts this natural cycle, which causes poor sleep quality, mental health disorders like anxiety and depression, increased cancer risk and other health concerns, including an increased risk for developing early onset diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and higher stress levels. So basically, kind of the cycle affects everything and different aspects of your health, and in many ways."

"And I think, certainly going into the school year, this is a great time to talk about this, because how do you get students and everybody prepared to be able to study well and sleep well and rest?" said Kragie. "And I know there's a lot of anxiety about school and things."

There's also the matter of light pollution affecting nighttime stargazing. One strong advocate for addressing light pollution has been Turner Farm, a park in Great Falls that holds regular astronomical events. According to Kragie, Turner Farm was able to get a special lighting zone with stricter lighting rules in a half mile radius around its observatory park.

"I'd like to see more of that come in across the county," said Kragie. "At Dark Sky Friends, I'm particularly interested in regional cooperation and regional master lighting plans, because I'm affected both by Fairfax County and the Town of Vienna."

While the populated Northern Virginia is an area of concern for light pollution, Kragie says Virginia has the most dark sky parks east of the Mississippi River named by Dark Sky International. The closest park is Sky Meadows State Park, where the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club's programs are based. Other advocates for dark skies are the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the Astronomy Festival on the National Mall and George Mason University's observatory. Kragie said George Mason University's program has become more invested in educating about light pollution and could be a leader in spreading the movement on the East Coast.

Despite support from localities, there have been ups and downs on addressing light pollution in the region. With the brighter LED lights becoming more common, Kragie said Fairfax County is requiring some fixtures to be fully-shielded, motion-activated lights. However, the county is exempting some kinds, like the front porch lights. She also pointed to acorn-style lights in Vienna and Fairfax City, which "are among the worst offenders for bad lighting and one fixture every dark sky advocate detests."

Athletic field lighting has been one local topic of debate, including with a recent Loudoun high school proposal and the addition of stadium lighting at Alexandria's high school. Kragie says technologies are advanced enough to have athletic field lighting cut off at the end of the field, but neighbors may have to push their communities for best practices.

"People have to get involved, the neighbors, and everybody is affected and concerned about that," said Kragie. "So some of it's just, are there ways to turn them on and off more when they're being used? And people have to ask for, if you're going to put in the investment to change out the lights, to have them be the latest technology so that it minimizes the impact."

Two things that Kragie believes could make a difference are a moratorium to turn off outdoor lighting by a certain time or have it motion activated, and education about responsible outdoor lighting.

Caplan suggests residents and business owners follow five principles for outdoor lighting: "asking if lighting is useful, targeted, low level, controlled and warm colored."

"There's shields that you can get for spotlights that attach, which will shine them down," added Kragie. "There's modifications that you can get for the light bulbs, but I think if people just change the brightness of the bulb and the color, that would go a huge way and in helping solve this."

Even in a continuously growing area like Northern Virginia, Kragie won't give up on the idea of reducing light pollution. It will just take more awareness about minimizing lights.

"I think some people, because of the rate of growth and the population development here that some people have almost given up on trying to address this, but I think we can change that," said Kragie.