With Christmas fast approaching, my thoughts usually turn to of one of my favorite Christmas stories- Martin Luther’s Christmas tree. One legend from Germany states that the theologian who began the Protestant Reformation created what became of the foremost symbols of Christmas. The story goes that Luther was walking home one cold Christmas Eve in 1536, and happened to notice the twinkling stars through the evergreen trees. Luther was so inspired by the sight that when he arrived home, he went out and cut down a nearby tree, decorated it with candles and attempted to duplicate the vision he had seen on his Christmas walk. While some scholars debate the authenticity of the story, we have no doubt that the custom of decorating trees for Christmas and placing them in the home came to the United States with German immigrants and has now become part of Christmas traditions around the world.
But even if Luther’s Christmas tree is just a legend, it certainly speaks to a modern effort attempting to preserve our nocturnal views from light pollution- the “Dark Sky” movement- which recently is gaining notoriety here in the Ozarks.
Earlier in 2019, the Buffalo National River gained the status of an International Dark Sky Park (IDSP) by the International Dark Sky Association, which according to their web site, is “the recognized authority on light pollution and is the leading organization combating light pollution worldwide.” In order to obtain the Dark Sky Park status, the park made a commitment to adopt responsible outdoor lighting practices, and to educate park visitors and partners about “how and why night skies can be protected as a valuable natural resource.” Just as our Ozarks streams and wilderness have been impacted by development, so also have our night skies. Just like the James and its tributaries, the night sky is a complex ecosystem that supports both natural and cultural resources.
National Park Service image
Light pollution may not be as familiar to us as pollutants in our streams, but it is certainly just as damaging to our ecosystems, from plants and animals to humans. Light pollution can include glare, or excess brightness in the sky; skyglow, the brightening of the night sky over urban areas; unneeded light trespass in certain areas and clutter, or brightening and excessive groupings of artificial light. Light pollution originates from everything from exterior and interior lights to advertising. The International Dark Sky Association states that, according to World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness, 80 percent of the world’s population lives under skyglow, and 99 percent of the United States and Europe live under light-polluted skies. Light pollution can affect everything from the lowliest firefly to human beings circadian rhythm, which is our natural sleep cycle and the production of melatonin, and vital to human health.
When we look into a night sky uninhibited by light pollution, we are looking back in time for a brief glimpse of the sky that Henry Schoolcraft may have seen when he stood at the confluence of the Finley and the James and envisioned a large city in the future. The night sky and the constellations told our ancestors everything from the seasons to how to navigate the globe. It truly is a window back in time. The noted defender of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters, Sigrud Olson, once wrote that “In wilderness people can find the silence and the solitude and the noncivilized surroundings that can connect them once again to their evolutionary heritage, and through an experience of the eternal mystery, can give them a sense of the sacredness of all creation.”
And it’s not just the national parks that can help protect our natural time machine; simple steps like installing amber night-lights in bathrooms and bed rooms, limiting exposure to “blue light” devices like cell phones and lighting only when needed. Warm colors like amber help preserve night vision, and when properly installed downward on only a specific area needing illumination, help reduce skyglow. Buffalo National River restrooms are being converted to motion-sensor illumination with amber-hued bulbs rather than brighter LED ones, and light shields are being installed on larger outdoor fixtures to help reduce their light pollution as part of the park’s commitment to “Dark Sky” principles. Buffalo National River, Ozark National Scenic Riverways and Echo Bluff State Park have held “star parties” this year, in conjunction with local astronomical groups, where park visitors can take advantage of the park’s dark skies to peer back in time through telescopes.
Even if scholars debate the authenticity of the story of Martin Luther’s Christmas tree, they can validate the story of an Austrian priest named Fr. Joseph Mohr, who while walking home one evening was so inspired by viewing the village of Oberndorf, near Salzburg, from a nearby hilltop that he modified a poem he wrote about the nativity story and consulted with the parish organist, Franz Gruber, to put the words to music. Tradition says that the church organ was out of commission (due to damage from recent flooding by a nearby river) so Mohr and Gruber modified their piece for the guitar, and performed it at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, 1818. The name of the piece: Stille Nacht, or Silent Night. Like the Christmas tree, Stille Nact came to the United States with German immigrants and also became part of our larger Christmas traditions. In many churches, it is sung accompanied by candlelight in imitation of the night sky above Bethlehem, just as the dark sky movement attempts to preserve today.
Wishing you and yours a silent – and dark – night sky this holiday season.
Todd
