Yes, I strongly endorse and support the mission of Ivins Night Sky to improve, preserve, and protect the night sky over Ivins and our heritage of dark skies through education and information about environmentally responsible outdoor lighting, and to serve as a resource for City officials, residents, and businesses.
I support Ivins Night Sky’s recommendations for modifications to the City’s Outdoor Lighting Ordinance (for new construction only) to include:
- Fully shielded outdoor lighting fixtures over 1500 lumens to minimize glare.
- Limit the total amount of shielded and unshielded lighting.
- Consider requirements for uses that are now common but are not identified in the current ordinance, like electronic message boards.
- Install timers and establish curfews for existing and new public outdoor lighting and update existing city-owned lighting that doesn’t meet the ordinance requirements.
What should I say?
Explain why it is important to you to improve, protect, and preserve the night sky over Ivins.
Benefits of dark sky friendly lighting include:
Energy savings: Almost one-third of all lighting is wasted. It’s even worse for night lighting.
Heritage and rural character: Night skies were important to early settlers. That connection is an important part of our pioneer heritage and rural character in Ivins.
Quality of life: Nearly 80 percent of North Americans cannot see the Milky Way due to light pollution. We’re lucky. We can still see stars, galaxies, and more in the night sky over Ivins. Let’s keep it that way.
Health: The circadian clock, or 24-hour day/night cycle, affects important physiologic processes. Artificial light at night disrupts these essential processes.
Safety: Bright lighting does not automatically mean safer lighting.
Nature: Prolonged exposure to artificial light disrupts natural processes in both plants and animals.
Property values: Due to the scarcity of dark, starry skies all around the county, improving the quality of our night sky helps maintain or even increase property values.
Tourism: Places where night skies are free from artificial light pollution have become increasingly popular tourist destinations. There are downsides to tourism. But it provides local businesses with a steadier source of income, allows for a more efficient use of community resources, and creates jobs for us, our children, and grandchildren.