Let There Be Night: Testimony on Behalf of the Dark

The development of the modern world has brought with it rampant light pollution, destroying the ancient mystery of night and exacting a terrible price\--wasted energy, damage to human health, and the sometimes fatal interruption of the life patterns of many wildlife species. Artificial light blocks our view of the stars and mirrors a lack of appreciation for night’s gifts of quiet and repose, and it negatively affects ecosystems in ways we are only beginning to understand. In Let There Be Night, twenty-nine writers, scientists, poets, and scholars share their personal experiences of night and help us to understand what we are losing as dark skies and nocturnal wildness disappear. Their testimonies speak of the emotional and spiritual comforts of night; the awe we experience in the presence of vast, starlit skies; the scientific complexity of earth’s diurnal rhythms; and the thrill of witnessing children’s discovery of the magic of nighttime. These writers examine the folklore of night and trace the historical devaluation of nighttime as industrialization and technology banished darkness and its companion, silence, from our lives. And they propose ways by which we might restore the beneficence of true night skies to our cities and our culture. Let There Be Night examines a precious aspect of human experience in grave danger. The contributors offer an urgent call to awareness and action, and their diverse perceptions and voices also provide a statement of hope that the ancient magic of the night can be returned to our world.