Here’s an update of what happened in January:
The Initiative launched on January 8th with this website and a 4-page position paper emailed to people who previously expressed an interest in protecting the night sky.
The launch got coverage from St. George News, The Independent, KDXU, and FOX 13. The Spectrum also covered the Initiative in a detailed article a couple of days ago after interviewing Mayor Hart.
We met with the Mayor to discuss, generally, the outdoor lighting ordinance changes the International Dark Sky Association requires, then met with City staff to get their input.
Chris Haddad presented the position paper to about 50 members of the Shadow Canyon HOA.
Ron Smith, a local astronomer and educator, briefly mentioned the Initiative at his January Voyager Lecture at the Kayenta Arts Foundation.
Eva Lorentzen, the Art Teacher at Vista School, began a student art competition for 6th through 8th grade art students this week. The art will be judged by Steven Stradley, the Visual Arts Instructor at Tuacahn High School, and awards and cash prizes for the best interpretation of the night sky will be announced on February 12th. See: Student Art Contest Starts Today
We published an outdoor lighting report and recommendation, Shedding Light on Outdoor LED Choices and looked up specifications for 30 LEDs available on Amazon to get the definitive answer about Comparing Lumens to Watts in Incandescent Bulbs
We created a first draft of proposed changes to the City’s outdoor lighting ordinance yesterday and sent it to the Mayor and staff for review and comments.
We began an inventory of City-owned outdoor lighting by driving around the city, counting and photographing existing lighting to determine where to determine how much lighting already meets the International Dark Sky Association’s requirements. (City-Owned Street Lighting Study: Part 1)
If we didn’t mention something you did to advance the mission of this Initiative, please tell us. And if you would like to get involved in any of these projects or other projects we plan to start working on soon, let us know. And let us know about any ideas you have for other projects. We need all the help and expertise we can get. Send us an email from the Contact us page.