Thanks to the effort of Tim Brothers, we’ve got a new document that can help your community make smart lighting choices. It’s titled “Checklist for Dark-Sky Compliant Outdoor Lighting.”

The intended use of this document is a set of guidelines that can be sent to state agencies and local municipalities before or during the design/installation phase to prevent bad lighting. This is not the same as a bylaw — it’s not binding. But you can still send it to whoever is making lighting decision in your town: Economic Planner, Planning Board members, Town Administrator, or Building Inspector, for example. Or send it to your local DCR park administrator.  

You can also use this to start a conversation with your Select Board or whomever runs your town operations. Point out that dark-sky-friendly outdoor lighting does more than save the stars and protect the nocturnal environment — it also saves energy and thus taxpayer dollars. If you feel like the conversation is well received, try to get your local officials to write a letter of support for our proposed statewide bill and then send that to your local legislators.