WEBVTT

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[insects chirping]

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[camera clicking]

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[loud croaking]

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[car whooshing]

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[indistinct and garbled
transmissions]

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[haunting, warbling music]

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[car horn blares and fades]

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[car brakes squealing]

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[brakes squealing]

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[brakes hiss]

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[siren wails faintly]

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[camera clicking]

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[dramatic percussive music]

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- [singing]
Do-do, do-do

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Do-do, do-do

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Do-do, do-do

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Do-do, do-do

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[camera clicks]

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[camera clicking]

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[car horn blares]

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[whistles blasting]

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[car horn honks]

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- What is it?

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This is November 25th.

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I can\'t even see one star.

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November 25th at 6:00
in the freezing cold.

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Is that a star?

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Oh, yeah.

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Oh, there\'s another.

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Two.

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Oh, now I\'m getting...
Now I\'m getting it.

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Six, sev... or, no,
I already got that one, I think.

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Now, I can only see
about half of the sky

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\'cause of this building,

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so we\'ll assume
there\'s 12 stars.

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[mellow acoustic music]

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So I live in a city...
A big city...

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With 8 million people

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and, on most nights,
only a few dozen stars.

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I\'d grown up spending much
of my childhood in rural Maine,

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small town, 4,000 people.

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At night, more stars
than I could count

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or even capture with my camera.

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- [singing]
Do-do, do-do

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Do-do, do-do

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Do, do...

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- I built my own telescope
out of an old cardboard tube,

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attended astronomy camp,

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and invented
my own constellations

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from the stars
above my parents\' old barn.

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I\'d never stopped to wonder

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what those dark, starry nights
meant to me.

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But when I moved to the city,

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I felt at once like I was
at the center of the world

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under all those lights

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and like I\'d left
something important behind,

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something I couldn\'t name.

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What do we lose
when we lose the night?

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- I don\'t know of a civilization

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that didn\'t have
some kind of mythology

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about the night sky.

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[metal clanking]

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- If our civilization
didn\'t see the stars

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and didn\'t see how big
the universe was,

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would they come to believe
that they\'re more important

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in this much tinier universe

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because that\'s all they see?

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- I worry that our
lack of contact with the sky

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is doing something to us
that\'s very subtle.

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[ferry horn blaring]

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- A lot of people
don\'t know much about the sky

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\'cause there\'s all these
kinds of weird phenomena.

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That\'s why there
are so many UFOs around,

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\'cause there are a lot
of crazy people around too.

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But they see a light
moving around or a meteor...

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They never seen a meteor...

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They call it UFO, you know?

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In a sense, to them, it\'s a UFO,

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because they\'re not used
to looking at the sky,

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and if they do look at the sky
and do catch something,

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they don\'t understand
what it\'s all about...

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Most people, most people.

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But, you know,
Americans are not known

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for their knowledge, you know?

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- Professor Irving Robbins
is an astronomer

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who runs one of the last
remaining observatories

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in New York City.

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- Welcome to the College
of Staten Island,

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located on Staten Island,

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which is one
of the five boroughs

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of the city of New York.

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Of course, Staten Island
is in the United States

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on planet Earth, so welcome.

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[clanking and whirring]

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There she goes.

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We like to joke around
that this is safe astronomy.

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Take that off.

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I\'ve seen twice
the Milky Way in New York,

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when there was the blackouts.

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In 1966, I was in Brooklyn.

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I was working
in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

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Lights all went out,
and there I was;

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I could not believe the heavens.

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It was like on the deserts.

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I mean, all...
The whole Northeast went out,

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and the sky was spectacular,
just beautiful.

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It was really beautiful.

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As you know, in New York,

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there is a light pollution
problem.

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We\'re limited to how far deep
in space we can go

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because of the light pollution.

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When you look at the sky,
the sky...

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The light in the sky
really is the sum total

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of everything around you.

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It\'s like I have
a beautiful painting, right?

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Very nice, but now I come along
with an eraser,

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and I erase all of it
and just leave a few spots.

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That\'s what
light pollution does.

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This is what we call
a crappy night.

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Actually, we sometimes
call it \"schmutz.\"

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That\'s another local expression.

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- What astronomers call
light pollution

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occurs when lights
shining upward

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bounce off dust
and particulates in the air,

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causing the very sky to glow.

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To live in New York these days

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is to live under
a kind of illuminated tent,

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a dome of light.

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But it wasn\'t always.

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When Henry Hudson sailed
into New York Harbor in 1609,

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his first mate recorded
in his journal,

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after setting out to explore
in a rowboat,

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that it grew so dark

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that they could not find
the ship at night

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and sailed to and fro
on their oars.

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In those days, people used stars
to navigate the seas.

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Ancient constellations
like Orion the Hunter

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were later joined
by more modern inventions

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like compass and the telescope.

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On the Earth below,

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the only lights
for thousands of years

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were crude torches, campfires,
and candles.

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By the 17th and 18th centuries,

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oil lamps powered by whale oil
illuminated Manhattan.

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In the early 1800s,
gas lighting was introduced.

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And finally,
in the late 19th century,

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a new form of lighting emerged.

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- It has been said,
correctly, I think,

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that there is no better symbol

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of modern progress

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than the advent of electricity
in general

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but electric lighting
in particular.

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[doorbell ringing]

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- This doesn\'t bother me.

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Bothers a lot of people, though.

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Hey, you want to see the...
I tell people you...

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If you came into a light store
that looked like that,

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wouldn\'t you wonder, you know,

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what kind of place it is?

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[man speaking indistinctly]

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[door creaks open]

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About 75,000 lightbulbs
back here, approximately,

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different types.

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There was my father
who was in the business,

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and my grandfather
was also in the business,

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and he knew Edison.

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My grandfather was an inventor.

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So he, you know, was friendly
with Thomas Edison,

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and my grandfather was there
when things started.

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This one is an original
Edison lightbulb,

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and these still actually work.

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[electricity whirring faintly]

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1879 was the first lightbulb.

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More light.

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As you went up in generations,

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the brightness increased.

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They were trying to maximize
the amount of light.

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Self-ballasted
mercury vapor.

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Then they came out
with high-pressure sodium,

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which was a yellowish light,

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and that one
gets even brighter than this.

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And then they came out
with the metal halide.

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That\'s this.

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That one,
you could cook a meal on that.

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That\'s how hot this one gets.

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You look at this after,

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and you won\'t be able
to see for a while.

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[magnet clicks]

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Believe me, today I see stuff,

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new stuff that\'s coming out,
it\'s like, wow.

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- Today\'s lights
are capable of producing

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thousands more lumens

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than Edison\'s original
lightbulb.

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The mercury vapor light is
popular on barns and warehouses.

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The metal halide often
illuminates car dealerships.

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And high-pressure
sodium lights

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are found on cobra head
light fixtures

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all across the country.

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As electric lights grew brighter
and more numerous

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throughout the 20th century,

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the starlight
above America\'s cities

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tended to go the other way.

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- As I\'ve gotten older,

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I notice I have to go
farther and farther

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from wherever
there\'s any civilization

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in order to see the sky,
to be part of the universe.

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I began to do
all of my observing

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from down at Jones Beach,
which, in 1973,

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was still reasonably dark.

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Unfortunately, night no longer
comes to Jones Beach.

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We would use this area
right here

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and just unload our scopes,

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and this whole area
would be filled with scopes,

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and the phone is still there.

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I bet you can\'t find the number.

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Ah, yes. 785-9743.

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The number didn\'t change.

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[laughs]

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Pretty much, no matter
which side you went from,

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there were
telescopes everywhere.

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This now, there isn\'t even
a handle to get in here.

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I wonder what they do.

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We determined the length
of an asteroid from here.

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We measured some double stars
from here.

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Depending on the season
of the year,

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it might be Orion in the winter

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or Scorpius and Sagittarius
in the summer,

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with the Milky Way coming up
like the steam from the teapot.

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Great place to be.

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Already, Jupiter\'s coming out,

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biggest planet
in the solar system,

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second biggest object.

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That\'s just the teaser.

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It\'s so sad because
I know what\'s above me

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once it gets dark here.

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It just doesn\'t get dark
anymore.

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- Cities have always been

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kind of overburdened
with lights.

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I think you\'re allowed to have
some expectation, though,

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that when you leave the city...

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Ten miles, fifty miles,
a hundred miles...

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That the sky should start
to come back to you.

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[indistinct speech on radio]

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[clanking]

00:16:08.667 --> 00:16:10.467
- Well, it\'s pretty dark.

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[muffled clanking]

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[camera clicks]

00:16:22.033 --> 00:16:25.033
[camera clicks]

00:16:48.167 --> 00:16:50.800
To gauge the quality
of night skies,

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astronomers use a range
of different scales.

00:16:54.167 --> 00:16:55.300
But I found it simplest

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just to give them each
a letter grade,

00:16:57.333 --> 00:17:00.367
with A being some of the best
night skies possible

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and F a sky with few
or no visible stars.

00:17:09.600 --> 00:17:12.700
16, 17, 18, 19, 20,

00:17:12.733 --> 00:17:14.900
21, 22, 23, 24,

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25, 26.

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[train whirring]

00:18:07.567 --> 00:18:10.567
[people singing indistinctly]

00:18:16.333 --> 00:18:17.800
- Okay, I can\'t tell you

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that I\'m very familiar
with the stars.

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However, yes,
at camp especially,

00:18:24.333 --> 00:18:26.300
out in the field,
you do stargazing,

00:18:26.333 --> 00:18:27.467
depending on the weather,

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and that\'s actually pretty cool.

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My son was in the Coast Guard.

00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:31.800
He knows about the stars,

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but he never goes on
any of these damn trips, so...

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- Matty, look at this.

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You scroll up and down
with the ball.

00:18:39.367 --> 00:18:41.000
- All right, find the utensils.

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What did you do with them
last time after the trip?

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- We put them all together.

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- Gabriel\'s not going?

00:18:45.167 --> 00:18:46.133
- Dylan\'s not going?

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- Freddy says he\'s not going.

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- Everybody\'s telling me now
they\'re not going.

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There were nine people going.
Now there are five.

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Does everybody know what
they need to bring tomorrow?

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- Yes!
- Si, señor.

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- This is disgusting.

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Do I look like I want
to be played around with?

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Troop 718 has been in
this neighborhood since 1911.

00:19:06.867 --> 00:19:09.333
New York wasn\'t quite as bright
then as it is now.

00:19:09.367 --> 00:19:13.000
You didn\'t have the sodium lamps
or whatever they use days.

00:19:13.033 --> 00:19:14.500
And we were talking about,
you know,

00:19:14.533 --> 00:19:16.167
what if you get lost
in the woods?

00:19:16.200 --> 00:19:19.333
And someone mentioned that
they had read or heard somewhere

00:19:19.367 --> 00:19:21.500
that you don\'t have to worry
so much these days.

00:19:21.533 --> 00:19:25.500
You just have to head towards
the pinkish glow in the sky,

00:19:25.533 --> 00:19:26.833
because everything is so bright,

00:19:26.867 --> 00:19:29.367
no matter how far you are
in the woods.

00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:33.100
It\'s good to get the kids out.

00:19:33.133 --> 00:19:36.433
I don\'t know if it\'s gonna
change their lives necessarily,

00:19:36.467 --> 00:19:39.933
but the whole point is that
they see something different.

00:19:46.100 --> 00:19:47.567
- Yo, everybody stand up.

00:19:47.600 --> 00:19:48.733
- Stand up, yo.

00:19:48.767 --> 00:19:50.367
- We\'re about to do
the flag ceremony.

00:19:54.133 --> 00:19:57.133
[boys speaking indistinctly]

00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:00.600
- It was 10:00... 9:00 p.m.

00:20:00.633 --> 00:20:01.767
- 9:00 p.m.?
What time is it?

00:20:01.800 --> 00:20:02.767
I mean, what day is it?

00:20:02.800 --> 00:20:04.100
All right, now look up.
Go.

00:20:04.133 --> 00:20:06.100
Come on.

00:20:06.133 --> 00:20:08.600
- You can see
a lot more stars now.

00:20:08.633 --> 00:20:10.433
- Look... look at the sky.
It\'s mad late.

00:20:10.467 --> 00:20:12.267
- It\'s all... lookit.
- Yo, look up, yo.

00:20:12.300 --> 00:20:13.767
Everybody, turn off your lights.

00:20:13.800 --> 00:20:15.933
Turn off your lights
for, like, a quick second.

00:20:15.967 --> 00:20:17.767
- Oh, my God.

00:20:17.800 --> 00:20:19.767
There\'s, like, a hundred stars.

00:20:19.800 --> 00:20:21.600
- I never seen the Milky Way.

00:20:21.633 --> 00:20:22.900
- Matty,
can we go to sleep here?

00:20:22.933 --> 00:20:23.900
Can we go to sleep here?

00:20:23.933 --> 00:20:25.767
- No.

00:20:28.033 --> 00:20:30.000
- There\'s so much lights
in New York City

00:20:30.033 --> 00:20:31.567
that you can barely see
the stars.

00:20:31.600 --> 00:20:33.167
So when you look up,
you only can see

00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:35.667
the reflection of the all
the lights around the city,

00:20:35.700 --> 00:20:37.500
so then you look up,
and you can\'t see no stars.

00:20:37.533 --> 00:20:40.833
- You probably see maybe
one or two stars.

00:20:40.867 --> 00:20:43.167
This would be
a great place to live.

00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:44.867
- The time goes slower,
and you, like...

00:20:44.900 --> 00:20:46.033
- You get to enjoy your time.

00:20:46.067 --> 00:20:47.533
- Yeah, you actually
enjoy everything.

00:20:47.567 --> 00:20:50.300
- You get to enjoy
the environment, the stars.

00:21:13.767 --> 00:21:16.433
- I was born and raised
in the Bronx, New York,

00:21:16.467 --> 00:21:19.267
in an apartment complex

00:21:19.300 --> 00:21:23.100
prophetically called
the Skyview Apartments.

00:21:23.133 --> 00:21:24.967
And what happened
when I was nine

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:28.133
was that first visit
to the Hayden Planetarium

00:21:28.167 --> 00:21:30.133
here in New York City.

00:21:30.167 --> 00:21:32.967
There you are in this room,
this odd-shaped room.

00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:34.967
It\'s round,
and it\'s got a round ceiling,

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:37.600
and they turn off the lights.

00:21:37.633 --> 00:21:40.600
They even have permission
to turn off the exit lights,

00:21:40.633 --> 00:21:42.100
so it\'s comp...
You can\'t even see

00:21:42.133 --> 00:21:43.933
the hand in front of your face.

00:21:43.967 --> 00:21:48.267
And the stars come out,
and I was sure it was a hoax.

00:21:48.300 --> 00:21:49.933
I\'ve seen the night sky
from the Bronx.

00:21:49.967 --> 00:21:51.433
There\'s a dozen stars there,

00:21:51.467 --> 00:21:53.933
and there were way too many
stars in the Hayden Planetarium

00:21:53.967 --> 00:21:56.100
for me to believe it.

00:21:56.133 --> 00:21:58.600
And it would take several years
before I recognized that,

00:21:58.633 --> 00:22:03.533
in fact, this was an accurate
capturing of the night sky.

00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:06.833
And to this day,
I\'m on mountaintops,

00:22:06.867 --> 00:22:08.500
and I look up,

00:22:08.533 --> 00:22:09.667
and I say to my...

00:22:09.700 --> 00:22:11.667
This is a sickeningly urban
thing to say,

00:22:11.700 --> 00:22:13.333
but I look up, and I say,

00:22:13.367 --> 00:22:15.667
\"Reminds me
of the Hayden Planetarium.\"

00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:17.533
[laughs]
You know...

00:22:23.467 --> 00:22:26.433
- You know, we\'re nothing
if we\'re not adaptive,

00:22:26.467 --> 00:22:30.267
and so as we adapt
to these deprivations

00:22:30.300 --> 00:22:31.933
of not seeing the sky,

00:22:31.967 --> 00:22:36.233
we create mechanisms
to mimic them.

00:22:36.267 --> 00:22:40.267
Who knows what
the ultimate effect will be?

00:22:59.767 --> 00:23:01.367
[plastic rattling]

00:23:41.333 --> 00:23:43.300
- What\'s happened
over my lifetime is that

00:23:43.333 --> 00:23:47.633
you have kind of a sprawl
with the city lights.

00:23:47.667 --> 00:23:50.367
[car horn honking]

00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:51.533
Perhaps in the old days,

00:23:51.567 --> 00:23:54.200
it was just homes
with streetlights,

00:23:54.233 --> 00:23:58.033
and now it\'s homes
near shopping malls,

00:23:58.067 --> 00:24:00.433
fully lit parking lots,

00:24:00.467 --> 00:24:03.767
each of which has its own lights

00:24:03.800 --> 00:24:06.800
spilling out
into the surrounding regions.

00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:16.467
- Our society is kind of
taking over the wilderness,

00:24:16.500 --> 00:24:20.000
but it\'s happening slowly,
and no one really notices it.

00:24:22.333 --> 00:24:26.500
Now the sky is just
impossibly bright.

00:24:28.800 --> 00:24:30.100
And so the astronomers

00:24:30.133 --> 00:24:33.100
have had to flee
the population centers

00:24:33.133 --> 00:24:35.967
and move to the desert
and island areas of the world.

00:24:58.400 --> 00:24:59.700
- We\'re right on the border

00:24:59.733 --> 00:25:03.533
between eastern Arizona
and New Mexico.

00:25:03.567 --> 00:25:08.700
- The closest grocery store
is a little over an hour,

00:25:08.733 --> 00:25:11.200
and that\'s in Douglas
on the border.

00:25:11.233 --> 00:25:13.333
This is one of the few regions

00:25:13.367 --> 00:25:16.633
that still has really good
dark skies.

00:25:24.900 --> 00:25:27.300
- The town of Sky Village
was created

00:25:27.333 --> 00:25:29.233
by a man named Jack Newton,

00:25:29.267 --> 00:25:31.567
one of my childhood heroes

00:25:31.600 --> 00:25:33.267
and widely considered to be

00:25:33.300 --> 00:25:37.233
one of the greatest
astrophotographers of our time.

00:25:37.267 --> 00:25:41.100
- We hunted diligently for
dark skies to find this site,

00:25:41.133 --> 00:25:44.100
the darkest spot
in southwestern U.S.,

00:25:44.133 --> 00:25:46.100
and that was Portal, Arizona.

00:25:46.133 --> 00:25:49.100
And then we were able
to collect 450 acres

00:25:49.133 --> 00:25:52.600
and set up the Arizona
Sky Village for astronomers,

00:25:52.633 --> 00:25:54.200
and it\'s been magnificent.

00:25:54.233 --> 00:25:57.233
[whirring]

00:26:00.333 --> 00:26:05.133
My primary instrument here
is a 20-inch telescope

00:26:05.167 --> 00:26:07.067
with a carbon fiber tube.

00:26:07.100 --> 00:26:09.733
- I have a Meade 16-inch
Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope

00:26:09.767 --> 00:26:11.600
as the primary instrument
in there.

00:26:11.633 --> 00:26:14.600
- This is a H-alpha
solar telescope.

00:26:14.633 --> 00:26:15.933
- It carries piggyback

00:26:15.967 --> 00:26:19.600
a Takahashi 180 Epsilon
Astrograph

00:26:19.633 --> 00:26:21.300
high-speed camera lens.

00:26:21.333 --> 00:26:23.800
- This is the observatory
we\'re having built here.

00:26:23.833 --> 00:26:25.633
The telescope mount
will be here,

00:26:25.667 --> 00:26:28.000
and we\'ll have a 10-foot dome
above us here.

00:26:28.033 --> 00:26:30.967
- So we chase
total solar eclipses.

00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:33.300
- It\'s paradise
for an astrophotographer

00:26:33.333 --> 00:26:34.833
to be out here.

00:26:34.867 --> 00:26:37.000
- We all come from different
walks of life,

00:26:37.033 --> 00:26:39.933
but we have all moved here
with one thing in common.

00:26:39.967 --> 00:26:41.600
We all love the night sky.

00:26:41.633 --> 00:26:44.267
[whirring]

00:26:44.300 --> 00:26:46.767
This is my clubhouse.

00:26:46.800 --> 00:26:49.100
Every guy wants a clubhouse
when he grows up,

00:26:49.133 --> 00:26:50.433
and this is it.

00:26:50.467 --> 00:26:51.800
I call my observatory

00:26:51.833 --> 00:26:53.933
Conferring With the Sky
Observatory.

00:26:53.967 --> 00:26:55.367
[dogs barking]

00:26:56.933 --> 00:26:59.667
- I was shooting last night,

00:26:59.700 --> 00:27:04.467
and there\'s the spiral galaxy.

00:27:04.500 --> 00:27:09.300
This one is 57 million
light-years away.

00:27:09.333 --> 00:27:12.000
So the light
left 57 million years ago.

00:27:12.033 --> 00:27:15.800
This is called
the North America Nebula.

00:27:15.833 --> 00:27:18.300
This is called
the Heart and the Soul,

00:27:18.333 --> 00:27:20.700
this being the Heart
and that being the Soul.

00:27:20.733 --> 00:27:24.033
This is Orion\'s Belt,
the three stars in the belt.

00:27:24.067 --> 00:27:27.333
This is the dagger that
hangs down from Orion\'s Belt.

00:27:28.700 --> 00:27:33.667
I would go nuts if I couldn\'t
have the dark night sky.

00:27:33.700 --> 00:27:36.667
There\'s a whole universe
out there.

00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:44.333
- Maybe our feelings about
nature are somewhat similar

00:27:44.367 --> 00:27:46.967
to our feelings about seeing
the dark skies.

00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:49.467
I find it very difficult
to verbalize

00:27:49.500 --> 00:27:51.933
what the attraction is
sometimes.

00:27:56.900 --> 00:27:58.267
- That\'s hard
to put your finger on.

00:27:58.300 --> 00:27:59.767
It really is.

00:27:59.800 --> 00:28:01.733
I don\'t want to say
it\'s a religious experience,

00:28:01.767 --> 00:28:03.467
but it\'s an emotional feeling,
more.

00:28:03.500 --> 00:28:05.633
It\'s like being a child,
in a way.

00:28:05.667 --> 00:28:08.633
It\'s a childlike,
like, kind of wonderment

00:28:08.667 --> 00:28:11.400
at all of this that\'s out there.

00:28:16.900 --> 00:28:20.533
[conversations overlapping]

00:28:20.567 --> 00:28:21.867
- They were stuck
in the trailer,

00:28:21.900 --> 00:28:23.200
so I said, you know...

00:28:23.233 --> 00:28:25.200
- Fortunately, I can have
the lights on right now

00:28:25.233 --> 00:28:28.200
because everybody that\'s here
is here,

00:28:28.233 --> 00:28:29.533
so they can\'t complain.

00:28:29.567 --> 00:28:31.333
As soon as they start leaving
to go observe,

00:28:31.367 --> 00:28:33.433
I\'ll have to shut
even this one lightbulb off.

00:28:33.467 --> 00:28:35.600
- A toast to the new moon.

00:28:35.633 --> 00:28:37.433
- Yeah.

00:28:37.467 --> 00:28:39.100
- New moon!
- New moon.

00:28:39.133 --> 00:28:40.433
All right.

00:28:40.467 --> 00:28:42.600
- Bye!
- Good night.

00:28:42.633 --> 00:28:44.100
- I can\'t see where I\'m going.

00:28:44.133 --> 00:28:45.800
- Thanks, guys.

00:28:49.400 --> 00:28:52.400
[footsteps crunching on gravel]

00:28:59.533 --> 00:29:00.900
[camera clicks]

00:29:00.933 --> 00:29:03.533
[mellow instrumental music]

00:29:03.567 --> 00:29:05.367
- The Milky Way,
when it rises here,

00:29:05.400 --> 00:29:07.867
looks like a thunderstorm
coming toward you,

00:29:07.900 --> 00:29:10.033
and you think, \"Oh, my God,
it\'s gonna cloud over.\"

00:29:10.067 --> 00:29:11.200
And it\'s not.

00:29:11.233 --> 00:29:12.533
It\'s the Milky Way rising.

00:29:12.567 --> 00:29:14.900
It\'s the edge of our galaxy
coming up.

00:29:36.033 --> 00:29:38.833
- Being out under the stars
at night,

00:29:38.867 --> 00:29:42.167
I was reminded of the scale
of our world,

00:29:42.200 --> 00:29:44.967
a scale that\'s all too easy
to forget

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:48.000
when you don\'t have this clear
a view of the skies above.

00:29:52.433 --> 00:29:56.167
- If we didn\'t have a good view
of a dark sky,

00:29:56.200 --> 00:29:59.233
we wouldn\'t know we lived
in a galaxy like the Milky Way.

00:29:59.267 --> 00:30:00.400
We wouldn\'t know that

00:30:00.433 --> 00:30:03.067
the universe
was 50 billion galaxies,

00:30:03.100 --> 00:30:05.867
each with hundreds of billions
of stars.

00:30:05.900 --> 00:30:08.967
We would know very little
about the universe we lived in.

00:30:10.367 --> 00:30:13.167
Once you\'ve known
what a truly dark sky is...

00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:16.000
Once I observed
the observatories in Hawaii,

00:30:16.033 --> 00:30:17.667
which, to me,
are the gold standard...

00:30:17.700 --> 00:30:20.500
It\'s like once you\'ve smoked
the very best kind of weed

00:30:20.533 --> 00:30:22.267
or had the very best
single malt whisky,

00:30:22.300 --> 00:30:24.300
you know,
you can\'t really go back.

00:30:34.233 --> 00:30:36.367
- Astronomy is the oldest
of the sciences.

00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:37.533
We can go back,

00:30:37.567 --> 00:30:39.367
and we can trace the development

00:30:39.400 --> 00:30:41.867
of our inquiry into the universe

00:30:41.900 --> 00:30:44.200
to the ability
to look up to the sky

00:30:44.233 --> 00:30:46.033
to see things
that you don\'t understand

00:30:46.067 --> 00:30:48.533
that you want to be able
to touch and understand.

00:30:48.567 --> 00:30:51.033
Every civilization
that we know about

00:30:51.067 --> 00:30:53.633
built a science
around explaining

00:30:53.667 --> 00:30:56.333
the sky that was above them
that they saw at night.

00:30:57.867 --> 00:31:00.067
- We\'re going to a place
called Science City.

00:31:00.100 --> 00:31:02.233
- Ladies and gentlemen,
we\'ll be landing very shortly.

00:31:02.267 --> 00:31:04.567
Please make sure your seat belts
are securely fastened.

00:31:04.600 --> 00:31:06.067
Mahalo.

00:31:06.100 --> 00:31:09.567
- It\'s literally true that
there is no better place in...

00:31:09.600 --> 00:31:13.233
On this planet to observe
than the Hawaiian Islands.

00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:21.167
- We\'re headed up
to the summit of Haleakala.

00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:25.167
This is one of the most
isolated spots in the world.

00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:28.333
We\'re going to be up above
this cloud cover.

00:31:28.367 --> 00:31:33.367
Everyone starts to lose
a bit of functionality up here

00:31:33.400 --> 00:31:35.700
and act a little strange.

00:31:35.733 --> 00:31:38.533
For example, with me,
I forget words,

00:31:38.567 --> 00:31:41.233
and I start getting
really chatty.

00:31:54.467 --> 00:31:56.633
But not in this
particular instant.

00:32:03.033 --> 00:32:04.333
It\'s always neat to look down

00:32:04.367 --> 00:32:06.967
and see the ocean of clouds
below you.

00:32:14.800 --> 00:32:16.933
- The volcanic islands of Hawaii

00:32:16.967 --> 00:32:18.800
thrust up out
of the Pacific Ocean

00:32:18.833 --> 00:32:20.500
and all the way through
the clouds,

00:32:20.533 --> 00:32:23.900
giving astronomers
clear air and clear skies.

00:32:26.333 --> 00:32:29.800
On Mauna Kea, some of
the world\'s largest telescopes

00:32:29.833 --> 00:32:34.467
scan the sky from an altitude
of 14,000 feet.

00:32:34.500 --> 00:32:38.600
And on Haleakala, astronomers
have recently built a telescope

00:32:38.633 --> 00:32:40.267
that they describe
as the largest,

00:32:40.300 --> 00:32:43.200
most light-sensitive camera
in history.

00:32:45.833 --> 00:32:48.967
- This is the
Pan-STARRS 1.8-meter telescope.

00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:51.967
Its detectors span an area
like this

00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:54.967
behind this plate
inside the vacuum.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:58.100
One of the primary reasons
for building this thing is,

00:32:58.133 --> 00:32:59.967
we want to find
killer asteroids.

00:33:03.033 --> 00:33:06.833
- Well, the Earth is being
hit by stuff all the time.

00:33:06.867 --> 00:33:08.667
The biggest threat
is from objects

00:33:08.700 --> 00:33:12.000
that are about a kilometer
in size or more.

00:33:12.033 --> 00:33:15.667
And if one of those objects
hits the Earth,

00:33:15.700 --> 00:33:19.067
then it produces
a global catastrophe,

00:33:19.100 --> 00:33:22.067
something like
many thousands of H-bombs

00:33:22.100 --> 00:33:24.767
going off instantaneously.

00:33:26.533 --> 00:33:30.000
- It\'s not a question
of if we\'ll ever be

00:33:30.033 --> 00:33:32.167
catastrophically affected
by such a collision.

00:33:32.200 --> 00:33:35.100
It\'s just a question of when.

00:33:35.133 --> 00:33:38.100
- This is
an unidentified object.

00:33:38.133 --> 00:33:39.600
It\'s moving.

00:33:39.633 --> 00:33:42.100
We\'re the first people
to see this object right now.

00:33:44.333 --> 00:33:46.133
- To identify asteroids,

00:33:46.167 --> 00:33:49.300
astronomers compare
sequences of images

00:33:49.333 --> 00:33:53.967
to look for changes
against the background of stars.

00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:56.967
But finding asteroids,
which are small and dark,

00:33:57.000 --> 00:33:59.800
depends on having
extremely dark skies.

00:33:59.833 --> 00:34:03.700
- [singing] Ooh, ooh, ooh

00:34:03.733 --> 00:34:07.367
Ooh, ooh, ooh

00:34:07.400 --> 00:34:10.033
Ooh, ooh, ooh

00:34:10.067 --> 00:34:14.700
- The city now produces
probably 100 times as much light

00:34:14.733 --> 00:34:17.533
as existed back in the \'50s,
maybe more,

00:34:17.567 --> 00:34:21.367
and that light directly competes
with our ability

00:34:21.400 --> 00:34:24.700
to see the light
from the universe.

00:34:24.733 --> 00:34:29.600
- Up here on the mountain,
the sky looks dark to your eye,

00:34:29.633 --> 00:34:31.600
but to something as sensitive
as this,

00:34:31.633 --> 00:34:34.067
it just starts chewing away
and chewing away.

00:34:34.100 --> 00:34:36.467
It\'s as though
you\'re looking through fog.

00:34:40.267 --> 00:34:43.567
- Losing the ability to detect
Earth-killing asteroids

00:34:43.600 --> 00:34:45.900
would be a bad thing.

00:34:45.933 --> 00:34:48.400
But I got the sense that
the astronomers were worried

00:34:48.433 --> 00:34:50.900
about a much deeper loss,

00:34:50.933 --> 00:34:53.067
one tied
to their ancient profession

00:34:53.100 --> 00:34:55.767
of decoding the universe above.

00:34:57.900 --> 00:34:59.367
- If we lived on a planet

00:34:59.400 --> 00:35:03.200
that was forever opaque
to the universe beyond,

00:35:03.233 --> 00:35:05.267
science and inquiry
would have been

00:35:05.300 --> 00:35:09.100
terribly distorted and twisted.

00:35:09.133 --> 00:35:10.433
We once thought that we were at

00:35:10.467 --> 00:35:12.307
the center of the solar system,
and we weren\'t.

00:35:12.333 --> 00:35:13.633
We once thought that the sun

00:35:13.667 --> 00:35:15.133
was at the center
of the Milky Way,

00:35:15.167 --> 00:35:17.467
and that\'s not true either.

00:35:17.500 --> 00:35:19.333
In my lifetime, we once believed

00:35:19.367 --> 00:35:21.167
that there weren\'t
any other planets

00:35:21.200 --> 00:35:23.333
except for the planets
around our Sun,

00:35:23.367 --> 00:35:25.333
and because we could look out
into the sky

00:35:25.367 --> 00:35:26.600
and we could see the universe,

00:35:26.633 --> 00:35:28.067
we now have
a very different picture

00:35:28.100 --> 00:35:31.100
of a universe
that\'s filled with planets.

00:35:32.333 --> 00:35:33.967
Seeing the universe around us

00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:36.133
tells us about our own part
of the universe,

00:35:36.167 --> 00:35:38.300
and to close that door, I think,

00:35:38.333 --> 00:35:43.000
would change the character
of humankind entirely.

00:35:52.533 --> 00:35:55.000
- When I was a teenager
in Maine,

00:35:55.033 --> 00:35:58.667
I would stay up past midnight
to see new constellations

00:35:58.700 --> 00:36:01.433
or catch the moon rising
in the east.

00:36:04.267 --> 00:36:08.733
On some nights, though,
the ocean mists rolled in.

00:36:08.767 --> 00:36:13.267
An enormous glowing blanket
pulled over the entire sky.

00:36:21.033 --> 00:36:23.333
A team of Italian cartographers,

00:36:23.367 --> 00:36:26.167
piecing together a map
of the Earth at night,

00:36:26.200 --> 00:36:29.833
concluded that 2/3 of all humans
now live under skies

00:36:29.867 --> 00:36:32.833
polluted by artificial light.

00:36:32.867 --> 00:36:35.167
As they put it,
\"Mankind is proceeding

00:36:35.200 --> 00:36:38.700
to envelop themself
in a luminous fog.\"

00:37:24.167 --> 00:37:25.400
- When you live in cities,

00:37:25.433 --> 00:37:28.067
you don\'t tend to think
about light pollution,

00:37:28.100 --> 00:37:29.733
because you\'re just in a bubble.

00:37:29.767 --> 00:37:31.567
You\'re in the city bubble,

00:37:31.600 --> 00:37:34.267
and so you sort of don\'t realize
what\'s missing.

00:37:35.767 --> 00:37:39.567
In truth,
most people are just...

00:37:39.600 --> 00:37:41.567
It\'s a little vague to them.

00:37:41.600 --> 00:37:43.900
Their sense of the universe
and how it works

00:37:43.933 --> 00:37:46.900
and their place in it
is really pretty vague.

00:37:48.367 --> 00:37:50.833
But most of the universe
is beyond our reckoning.

00:37:50.867 --> 00:37:53.000
We\'ll never
send spaceships there,

00:37:53.033 --> 00:37:55.667
so the only part of the universe
that\'s malleable

00:37:55.700 --> 00:38:00.067
or amenable to our inspection
and our intervention

00:38:00.100 --> 00:38:02.900
is the planet we live on.

00:38:02.933 --> 00:38:06.233
So that also sort of
reverses back on us,

00:38:06.267 --> 00:38:09.500
how we want to live in this
little piece of the universe

00:38:09.533 --> 00:38:12.067
that we get to deal with.

00:38:12.100 --> 00:38:17.333
And it\'s not much real estate,
but it\'s what we\'ve got,

00:38:17.367 --> 00:38:19.533
and it\'s all we\'ll ever get,
basically.

00:38:22.667 --> 00:38:24.633
- More than one astronomer
I spoke to

00:38:24.667 --> 00:38:27.300
suggested that seeing the stars

00:38:27.333 --> 00:38:30.633
is like seeing
the Earth from space.

00:38:30.667 --> 00:38:33.300
You suddenly realize
the uniqueness

00:38:33.333 --> 00:38:37.133
and the fragility of life
on the planet.

00:38:37.167 --> 00:38:38.600
Which is a reminder as well

00:38:38.633 --> 00:38:42.633
that it\'s more than just humans
who are losing the night.

00:38:47.667 --> 00:38:50.633
[thunder rumbling]

00:38:50.667 --> 00:38:53.667
[waves crashing]

00:39:19.667 --> 00:39:21.067
[rattling]

00:39:21.100 --> 00:39:23.767
[engine whines and rumbles]

00:39:39.333 --> 00:39:40.633
- We\'re just heading north,

00:39:40.667 --> 00:39:46.133
basically to our northern border
with Highland Beach,

00:39:46.167 --> 00:39:49.067
and actually, from here,
you can already see

00:39:49.100 --> 00:39:53.400
the amount of sky glow
we get from that area.

00:39:53.433 --> 00:39:57.267
The glow looking in that
direction is really intense.

00:39:59.667 --> 00:40:02.133
- Every summer,
along the Florida coast,

00:40:02.167 --> 00:40:05.633
thousands of hatching
sea turtles emerge from the sand

00:40:05.667 --> 00:40:08.667
and struggle to find their way
to the sea.

00:40:08.700 --> 00:40:10.833
- For about
the last 200 million years,

00:40:10.867 --> 00:40:14.667
sea turtles have utilized
the beaches in Florida

00:40:14.700 --> 00:40:16.467
as their nesting grounds.

00:40:16.500 --> 00:40:19.967
Over that time period,
in a dark world,

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:23.667
the sea turtles had learned
that the water was located

00:40:23.700 --> 00:40:26.733
on the lightest horizon,
because the ocean,

00:40:26.767 --> 00:40:29.900
the waters would reflect
starlight.

00:40:29.933 --> 00:40:33.567
In the last 100 years or so
in Florida, obviously,

00:40:33.600 --> 00:40:37.067
the lighting situation
has changed dramatically.

00:40:37.100 --> 00:40:39.233
Instead of going towards
the water,

00:40:39.267 --> 00:40:41.933
they go to the brighter light.

00:40:51.567 --> 00:40:54.567
[waves crashing]

00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:01.367
- Biologists use
infrared camera lights

00:41:01.400 --> 00:41:04.033
to avoid disorienting
the turtles,

00:41:04.067 --> 00:41:06.867
because when the hatchlings
emerge from their nests,

00:41:06.900 --> 00:41:10.067
they have only a matter
of minutes to make it to the sea

00:41:10.100 --> 00:41:13.467
before they grow dehydrated
or fall victim to predators.

00:41:43.367 --> 00:41:49.367
[upbeat music]

00:42:34.033 --> 00:42:35.700
- Nice!

00:43:08.567 --> 00:43:10.700
- We made sure
all the hatchlings we saw

00:43:10.733 --> 00:43:13.033
made it to the water.

00:43:13.067 --> 00:43:16.200
But every summer,
tens of thousands of turtles,

00:43:16.233 --> 00:43:20.733
already a threatened species,
are lost to disorientation.

00:43:30.733 --> 00:43:33.700
I began to think
about disorientation,

00:43:33.733 --> 00:43:37.333
about the way I try to orient
myself on an airplane at night,

00:43:37.367 --> 00:43:39.500
not using the stars

00:43:39.533 --> 00:43:44.000
but using the constellations
of cities glowing below.

00:43:44.033 --> 00:43:46.000
Like someone has taken
the night sky

00:43:46.033 --> 00:43:48.200
and flipped it upside down,

00:43:48.233 --> 00:43:50.833
so that flying between
stars and cities,

00:43:50.867 --> 00:43:54.167
you could understand how,
if only for a moment,

00:43:54.200 --> 00:43:56.667
you might forget
which was which.

00:44:11.767 --> 00:44:14.867
- Sunrise today should be
somewhere around 6:20.

00:44:14.900 --> 00:44:16.567
We\'re gonna be looking
for birds right now

00:44:16.600 --> 00:44:20.133
that may have come down during
the nighttime hours.

00:44:20.167 --> 00:44:22.967
What we do is, we check
along the edges of buildings

00:44:23.000 --> 00:44:25.300
because a bird
that\'s struck the glass,

00:44:25.333 --> 00:44:28.633
they\'re typically sitting
very close to this edge.

00:44:28.667 --> 00:44:31.800
That\'s where they\'re
most likely to be laying

00:44:31.833 --> 00:44:33.467
if they\'re either dead
or injured.

00:45:07.333 --> 00:45:09.133
- Do you ever see any, like,

00:45:09.167 --> 00:45:11.300
dead or injured birds
out on the street?

00:45:11.333 --> 00:45:13.633
- No.
- Really?

00:45:13.667 --> 00:45:16.800
All right.
Can I have a donut?

00:45:16.833 --> 00:45:18.800
[phone rings]

00:45:18.833 --> 00:45:22.467
- Chicago Bird Collision
Monitors.

00:45:22.500 --> 00:45:25.667
10 South Riverside.
Do you have a bird there?

00:45:28.467 --> 00:45:32.267
We find about an average
of 4,000 birds a year

00:45:32.300 --> 00:45:34.400
in our spring
and fall migration combined.

00:45:34.433 --> 00:45:37.733
That\'s 4,000, you know,
both dead and injured combined.

00:45:37.767 --> 00:45:39.900
And we know that
we\'re not finding everything.

00:45:39.933 --> 00:45:41.000
- He\'s movin\'.

00:45:41.033 --> 00:45:42.133
- Oh, that\'s nice.

00:45:42.167 --> 00:45:43.633
- I found him right over here
by my car.

00:45:43.667 --> 00:45:46.000
- Wonderful.
Okay.

00:45:47.467 --> 00:45:49.100
Whoa, whoa, whoa.

00:45:49.133 --> 00:45:50.433
Where is he?

00:45:50.467 --> 00:45:52.200
Oh, it\'s another sapsucker.
Look at this.

00:45:52.233 --> 00:45:53.767
- Oh, that\'s what that is?
A sapsucker.

00:45:53.800 --> 00:45:56.767
- It\'s a woodpecker.
It\'s a yellow-bellied sapsucker.

00:45:56.800 --> 00:45:59.100
- Oh, it is.
Okay, I just...

00:45:59.133 --> 00:46:01.033
Oh, good, he\'s...
Oh, great.

00:46:01.067 --> 00:46:04.700
So he must have hit this
building or something and...

00:46:04.733 --> 00:46:06.367
I just seen him breathing,

00:46:06.400 --> 00:46:10.533
so I had my co-worker
come out with a towel.

00:46:10.567 --> 00:46:12.033
I\'ve used her quite a few times.

00:46:12.067 --> 00:46:13.700
I\'m glad I got her number, so...

00:46:13.733 --> 00:46:15.533
- That\'s great.

00:46:15.567 --> 00:46:19.200
- And this is a case where
you kind of got to move fast

00:46:19.233 --> 00:46:21.700
in case there\'s a gull
that\'s gonna spot him,

00:46:21.733 --> 00:46:22.867
\'cause he\'s in a place

00:46:22.900 --> 00:46:25.067
where there\'s a lot of crows
and gulls.

00:46:29.467 --> 00:46:32.267
He\'s broke the top of his beak.

00:46:32.300 --> 00:46:34.267
And sometimes that can heal,

00:46:34.300 --> 00:46:36.967
but that\'s really kind of sad.

00:46:44.133 --> 00:46:47.600
- The most common injuries
we see by far are...

00:46:47.633 --> 00:46:49.200
It goes a little bit
species by species...

00:46:49.233 --> 00:46:50.800
But certainly head trauma,

00:46:50.833 --> 00:46:53.633
\'cause they\'re obviously flying,
like, headfirst into something.

00:46:53.667 --> 00:46:56.033
I don\'t... remarkably,
I do not tend to see

00:46:56.067 --> 00:46:59.200
a lot of broken legs and wings
with those guys,

00:46:59.233 --> 00:47:00.767
but we get a lot that have...

00:47:00.800 --> 00:47:03.267
Sometimes they actually
have a swollen head,

00:47:03.300 --> 00:47:05.267
and they\'ll actually
come in with...

00:47:05.300 --> 00:47:07.100
Their skin\'s just split
wide open on their head

00:47:07.133 --> 00:47:08.267
from running into something.

00:47:08.300 --> 00:47:09.933
And they come in with blood
in their mouth.

00:47:09.967 --> 00:47:12.567
That\'s real telltale
for a head trauma.

00:47:12.600 --> 00:47:14.400
Sometimes they\'ll be blind
temporarily

00:47:14.433 --> 00:47:17.333
after they\'ve had a hit
on the head that hard.

00:47:21.100 --> 00:47:23.167
- Even though
you can\'t see them,

00:47:23.200 --> 00:47:26.500
there are thousands
and thousands of birds

00:47:26.533 --> 00:47:30.167
flying over your head
every night during migration.

00:47:36.633 --> 00:47:38.433
We know from early studies

00:47:38.467 --> 00:47:41.767
that the stars actually serve
as a map for birds

00:47:41.800 --> 00:47:44.533
as they migrate
through the night skies.

00:47:50.667 --> 00:47:52.467
- The problem
with lights in the city

00:47:52.500 --> 00:47:55.300
is that these birds,
which have been migrating

00:47:55.333 --> 00:47:58.967
with their star chart,
get into the realm of a city,

00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:02.067
and suddenly, there are all of
these artificial stars all over,

00:48:02.100 --> 00:48:03.400
the dots of windows

00:48:03.433 --> 00:48:06.067
and lights in the buildings
of the city,

00:48:06.100 --> 00:48:08.400
and that completely disorients
the birds.

00:48:08.433 --> 00:48:11.567
They get into these
great canyons of buildings

00:48:11.600 --> 00:48:17.600
and then run into glass
and end up killing themselves.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:23.133
- Birds are not only
disoriented by city lights.

00:48:23.167 --> 00:48:25.300
They are drawn to them.

00:48:25.333 --> 00:48:27.133
In one study by volunteers

00:48:27.167 --> 00:48:29.800
from The Field Museum
in Chicago,

00:48:29.833 --> 00:48:31.967
a building that shut off
half its lights

00:48:32.000 --> 00:48:34.800
recorded a ten-fold decrease
in bird deaths

00:48:34.833 --> 00:48:37.833
compared to the half of
the building that remained lit.

00:48:40.767 --> 00:48:43.733
- The estimate is that
there\'s a billion birds killed

00:48:43.767 --> 00:48:45.567
across the United States
every year

00:48:45.600 --> 00:48:47.767
by collisions into buildings.

00:48:53.700 --> 00:48:55.867
[handle clanking]

00:48:58.867 --> 00:49:01.900
- This is a drawer that has
a sample of the birds

00:49:01.933 --> 00:49:04.567
that we found at just
one building in Chicago

00:49:04.600 --> 00:49:06.400
over the last 30 years.

00:49:06.433 --> 00:49:09.400
This has a small portion
of the 150 species

00:49:09.433 --> 00:49:13.733
and a very... even smaller portion
of the over 30,000 specimens

00:49:13.767 --> 00:49:16.300
that we\'ve picked up
at this one place.

00:49:16.333 --> 00:49:18.800
This is a scarlet tanager.

00:49:18.833 --> 00:49:20.633
This is the male
in breeding plumage.

00:49:20.667 --> 00:49:23.300
This is the much less dramatic
female.

00:49:23.333 --> 00:49:25.300
This is a very interesting bird

00:49:25.333 --> 00:49:27.300
in that it migrates
from this region

00:49:27.333 --> 00:49:29.300
all the way to Peru
for the winter

00:49:29.333 --> 00:49:31.800
and then back again.

00:49:31.833 --> 00:49:33.800
And it\'s one of the birds
that it always...

00:49:33.833 --> 00:49:36.467
Especially striking
when you find a dead one,

00:49:36.500 --> 00:49:38.467
realizing that it had made
that journey,

00:49:38.500 --> 00:49:40.800
and then it ends against
a glass window

00:49:40.833 --> 00:49:44.267
in a city in the Midwest.

00:50:10.400 --> 00:50:16.400
[solemn instrumental music]

00:50:27.167 --> 00:50:28.467
- When I was young,

00:50:28.500 --> 00:50:31.300
we\'d catch fireflies
behind the barn in Maine

00:50:31.333 --> 00:50:34.167
just by running through
the field with a jar.

00:50:36.200 --> 00:50:38.500
But fireflies...
Like many other species

00:50:38.533 --> 00:50:42.167
that rely on darkness
to mate, hunt, or hide...

00:50:42.200 --> 00:50:46.200
Are in decline because
of changes to their habitat.

00:50:48.867 --> 00:50:51.467
- When we add light
to the environment,

00:50:51.500 --> 00:50:54.800
that has the potential
to disrupt habitat,

00:50:54.833 --> 00:50:59.067
just like running a bulldozer
over the landscape can.

00:51:05.867 --> 00:51:10.333
Darkness is a necessary habitat
for nocturnal animals.

00:51:10.367 --> 00:51:13.333
So what\'s the habitat
for people?

00:51:21.400 --> 00:51:24.700
- I always sleep better
when I\'m home in Maine,

00:51:24.733 --> 00:51:26.700
even sleeping outside,

00:51:26.733 --> 00:51:30.533
something I\'d never even
considered doing in New York.

00:51:30.567 --> 00:51:33.700
Perhaps what I\'d loved
about being up north

00:51:33.733 --> 00:51:36.200
was not only
the light of the stars

00:51:36.233 --> 00:51:38.167
but the dark of the night.

00:51:42.200 --> 00:51:48.200
[dramatic percussive music]

00:52:00.700 --> 00:52:02.333
- Our society
is moving more and more

00:52:02.367 --> 00:52:05.833
towards a 24-7 lifestyle

00:52:05.867 --> 00:52:08.167
where everything\'s open
all night long.

00:52:08.200 --> 00:52:10.167
People are being asked
to work very long hours

00:52:10.200 --> 00:52:11.667
and working all through
the night.

00:52:11.700 --> 00:52:13.000
And we don\'t really understand

00:52:13.033 --> 00:52:14.900
what the long-term
health consequences are.

00:52:14.933 --> 00:52:16.900
- [singing]
Do-do, do-do-do

00:52:16.933 --> 00:52:19.233
- I go to work at 7:00
in the evening,

00:52:19.267 --> 00:52:22.700
and I clock out
at 7:30 in the morning.

00:52:22.733 --> 00:52:24.200
[whirring]

00:52:24.233 --> 00:52:27.967
- I get in at 7:00,
and I get out at 6:00 a.m.

00:52:30.567 --> 00:52:33.167
- Everybody sitting around!
Everybody line up!

00:52:33.200 --> 00:52:35.400
There\'s a lot of professions
that are only at night.

00:52:38.933 --> 00:52:42.733
- We have evolved all life on
the planet for 3 billion years

00:52:42.767 --> 00:52:46.733
with a reliable daily cycle
of 12 hours

00:52:46.767 --> 00:52:51.067
of bright, broad-spectrum light
and 12 hours of dark.

00:52:51.100 --> 00:52:53.233
And it\'s only been
in the last 120 years

00:52:53.267 --> 00:52:55.233
where the masses of people now

00:52:55.267 --> 00:52:58.400
have had their dark period
dramatically eroded

00:52:58.433 --> 00:53:01.300
by the use of electric lighting.

00:53:04.533 --> 00:53:10.533
[gentle acoustic strumming]

00:53:26.667 --> 00:53:28.800
- Ow!

00:53:28.833 --> 00:53:31.633
Not nice to slam
into the breast cancer patient

00:53:31.667 --> 00:53:34.133
on the cancer side specifically.

00:53:34.167 --> 00:53:36.533
Anyhow...

00:53:36.567 --> 00:53:39.400
That\'s the sore side
he just hit.

00:53:39.433 --> 00:53:41.600
We\'re on our way to...

00:53:41.633 --> 00:53:46.100
I believe it is number 6
of 30 radiation treatments.

00:53:46.133 --> 00:53:50.100
Everybody with breast cancer

00:53:50.133 --> 00:53:55.433
thinks about what can they do
to reduce a recurrence.

00:53:55.467 --> 00:53:58.767
But most people I know
don\'t spend an awful lot of time

00:53:58.800 --> 00:54:01.667
thinking about
what got them there.

00:54:01.700 --> 00:54:03.700
It\'s just hard to know.

00:54:06.567 --> 00:54:09.800
- Well, sadly and remarkably,
breast cancer

00:54:09.833 --> 00:54:13.467
is the number one cancer killer
of women in the world.

00:54:13.500 --> 00:54:14.967
Breast cancer risk

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:18.967
has been going up 1% to 2%
per year relentlessly

00:54:19.000 --> 00:54:21.400
and for reasons
that we really don\'t understand.

00:54:25.367 --> 00:54:27.167
Worldwide, risk of breast cancer

00:54:27.200 --> 00:54:29.167
has been going up everywhere

00:54:29.200 --> 00:54:31.167
and particularly
in those countries

00:54:31.200 --> 00:54:34.700
that are rapidly
industrializing now.

00:54:37.233 --> 00:54:41.200
We thought it had to be
something to do with diet,

00:54:41.233 --> 00:54:42.867
changes in the diet

00:54:42.900 --> 00:54:46.067
to the high-fat, processed-food
Western diet.

00:54:47.767 --> 00:54:52.633
The real good studies of diet
began to hit, be reported,

00:54:52.667 --> 00:54:55.800
in the mid-1980s,
and they were dead negative.

00:54:55.833 --> 00:54:57.633
There was no relationship

00:54:57.667 --> 00:55:00.867
of fat in the diet, for example,
and risk.

00:55:00.900 --> 00:55:03.400
We were all very disappointed
by this.

00:55:03.433 --> 00:55:05.067
If it\'s not diet, what is it?

00:55:07.433 --> 00:55:09.400
What is a hallmark
of industrialization?

00:55:09.433 --> 00:55:12.067
What else changes
as societies industrialize?

00:55:12.100 --> 00:55:15.400
And I was in my apartment
in the middle of the night.

00:55:15.433 --> 00:55:17.233
Woke up as I usually do,

00:55:17.267 --> 00:55:18.900
and there was a streetlight
shining in,

00:55:18.933 --> 00:55:21.233
and I realized
it was bright enough to read,

00:55:21.267 --> 00:55:23.233
and at that moment, I wondered,

00:55:23.267 --> 00:55:26.067
\"Could electric power
and lighting at night

00:55:26.100 --> 00:55:29.600
have anything to do
with breast cancer risk?\"

00:55:31.200 --> 00:55:33.000
- So a series of
epidemiological studies

00:55:33.033 --> 00:55:34.833
were done by different
researchers

00:55:34.867 --> 00:55:36.667
all over the world at the time

00:55:36.700 --> 00:55:39.700
looking at cancer rates
in shift workers.

00:55:42.033 --> 00:55:44.833
- The epidemiologic studies
that have been conducted

00:55:44.867 --> 00:55:47.667
have shown that women
who do shift work

00:55:47.700 --> 00:55:51.333
are at 1 1/2 to 2 times
the risk of breast cancer

00:55:51.367 --> 00:55:53.767
compared to women
who do not do shift work.

00:55:58.700 --> 00:56:00.933
[brakes squealing]

00:56:03.033 --> 00:56:07.667
- That\'s a Byzantine,
quarter of an inch wide.

00:56:07.700 --> 00:56:11.333
So, yeah, you got to...
People like it when you measure.

00:56:11.367 --> 00:56:15.000
You measure the earrings.

00:56:15.033 --> 00:56:17.000
You measure the necklace.

00:56:17.033 --> 00:56:18.667
People like it when you measure.

00:56:18.700 --> 00:56:21.467
It\'s kind of old-fashioned
but...

00:56:24.100 --> 00:56:25.900
I used to sell things on TV.

00:56:25.933 --> 00:56:27.733
And I would work
in the overnights,

00:56:27.767 --> 00:56:32.233
selling a lot of jewelry
but also clothing or cosmetics.

00:56:32.267 --> 00:56:35.233
A lot of shifts would be,
you\'d get into work at 10:00

00:56:35.267 --> 00:56:38.567
and then go on the air
at midnight to 3:00 a.m.,

00:56:38.600 --> 00:56:42.000
or you might be on
the air 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.

00:56:45.467 --> 00:56:47.100
I really encourage you
to go ahead

00:56:47.133 --> 00:56:48.433
and give me a call on these.

00:56:48.467 --> 00:56:50.433
You always have your 30-day
money back guarantee.

00:56:50.467 --> 00:56:52.100
If they\'re not as good
as I say they are,

00:56:52.133 --> 00:56:53.600
you send them right back.

00:56:53.633 --> 00:56:57.600
But, boy, gorgeous,
gorgeous rhodolite earrings.

00:56:57.633 --> 00:56:59.900
If you love rhodolite,
do yourself a favor...

00:56:59.933 --> 00:57:02.967
1998.

00:57:03.000 --> 00:57:04.300
[laughs]

00:57:04.333 --> 00:57:05.733
We had fun.

00:57:05.767 --> 00:57:07.233
Look at that scarf.

00:57:07.267 --> 00:57:08.367
See?
That\'s easy to do.

00:57:08.400 --> 00:57:12.233
All you do is...
Is, you tie it like that.

00:57:12.267 --> 00:57:15.767
- The notion that light
could be harmful

00:57:15.800 --> 00:57:19.367
flows very natural from
the beneficial effects of light.

00:57:19.400 --> 00:57:22.533
Anything that can heal
the human potentially,

00:57:22.567 --> 00:57:25.100
if used inappropriately,
can harm.

00:57:25.133 --> 00:57:28.767
How about we turn on
the Earth skylight

00:57:28.800 --> 00:57:31.600
and monochromatic units,

00:57:31.633 --> 00:57:33.933
so I don\'t have to fiddle
with them?

00:57:33.967 --> 00:57:35.767
In this facility here...

00:57:35.800 --> 00:57:37.433
- By studying how people respond

00:57:37.467 --> 00:57:41.267
to different types of light
at different times of day,

00:57:41.300 --> 00:57:43.600
scientists are quickly
unraveling the fact

00:57:43.633 --> 00:57:46.133
that light does more
than help us see.

00:57:48.867 --> 00:57:52.833
- The nervous system has evolved
a means for sending information

00:57:52.867 --> 00:57:57.333
based on time of day
and light and darkness

00:57:57.367 --> 00:57:59.500
independent
of the visual system.

00:57:59.533 --> 00:58:03.433
Light that comes into the eye
stimulates a nonvisual pathway

00:58:03.467 --> 00:58:05.467
right towards the center
of the brain.

00:58:09.333 --> 00:58:11.633
That information
about light and darkness

00:58:11.667 --> 00:58:14.300
is converted
into a hormonal signal,

00:58:14.333 --> 00:58:16.300
the production of melatonin,

00:58:16.333 --> 00:58:17.633
which in turn is released

00:58:17.667 --> 00:58:19.933
and circulates
throughout the entire body.

00:58:23.300 --> 00:58:25.767
- During the daytime,
when we\'re awake,

00:58:25.800 --> 00:58:31.433
our blood samples contain
little or no melatonin.

00:58:31.467 --> 00:58:33.767
But at night, if it\'s dark,

00:58:33.800 --> 00:58:36.300
we produce
abundant amounts of it.

00:58:39.300 --> 00:58:42.100
- The normal production
of melatonin

00:58:42.133 --> 00:58:44.767
is what\'s called
a circadian rhythm.

00:58:44.800 --> 00:58:47.767
Production of melatonin
is high during the nighttime,

00:58:47.800 --> 00:58:52.600
low during the daytime.

00:58:52.633 --> 00:58:57.933
But we\'ve altered
our light-dark environment.

00:58:57.967 --> 00:58:59.600
The eyes exposed
to light at night

00:58:59.633 --> 00:59:03.167
will cause a very rapid
and a very strong suppression

00:59:03.200 --> 00:59:05.033
of this hormone.

00:59:08.033 --> 00:59:10.167
- By exposing
human test subjects

00:59:10.200 --> 00:59:13.000
to light in the middle
of the night...

00:59:13.033 --> 00:59:14.167
Oh, my.

00:59:14.200 --> 00:59:16.500
Scientists can show
how light at night

00:59:16.533 --> 00:59:19.167
causes a suppression
of our melatonin levels,

00:59:19.200 --> 00:59:21.400
similar to what happens
during the day.

00:59:25.900 --> 00:59:28.200
Dr. Brainard\'s lab
began collecting

00:59:28.233 --> 00:59:30.533
three types of blood samples:

00:59:30.567 --> 00:59:32.533
blood collected
during the daytime

00:59:32.567 --> 00:59:34.700
when melatonin levels are low,

00:59:34.733 --> 00:59:37.533
blood collected during
the night in darkness

00:59:37.567 --> 00:59:39.533
when melatonin levels are high,

00:59:39.567 --> 00:59:41.367
and blood collected
during the night

00:59:41.400 --> 00:59:43.867
after patients
are exposed to light

00:59:43.900 --> 00:59:47.100
when their melatonin levels
are low.

00:59:47.133 --> 00:59:50.933
These samples, from healthy,
young graduate students,

00:59:50.967 --> 00:59:55.267
were then sent to another
scientist named Dr. David Blask.

00:59:55.300 --> 00:59:58.300
[door creaking]

01:00:00.300 --> 01:00:03.600
- The shift work data suggested

01:00:03.633 --> 01:00:06.267
that there\'s something
about shift work

01:00:06.300 --> 01:00:08.167
that may be associated

01:00:08.200 --> 01:00:10.933
with increased risk
of breast cancer certainly

01:00:10.967 --> 01:00:12.767
and maybe other cancers as well.

01:00:12.800 --> 01:00:14.433
And there\'s really no way...
Good way

01:00:14.467 --> 01:00:17.267
to test that in human beings,

01:00:17.300 --> 01:00:20.167
and so you go to animal models.

01:00:20.200 --> 01:00:24.033
So we\'re looking
at this surface of the rat.

01:00:27.833 --> 01:00:29.967
In this region of the rat,

01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:32.467
we implant human breast cancers

01:00:32.500 --> 01:00:34.800
that have been grown
in donor animals.

01:00:36.967 --> 01:00:40.567
So we have these three different
kinds of blood samples,

01:00:40.600 --> 01:00:44.400
and we take each
of these three blood samples

01:00:44.433 --> 01:00:48.400
and literally pump
these blood samples

01:00:48.433 --> 01:00:50.533
directly through this tumor.

01:00:50.567 --> 01:00:53.367
- In the presence
of nighttime blood

01:00:53.400 --> 01:00:55.533
rich in melatonin,

01:00:55.567 --> 01:00:58.200
tumor growth was suppressed.

01:00:58.233 --> 01:00:59.700
But in the presence of blood

01:00:59.733 --> 01:01:02.100
from patients
exposed to light at night,

01:01:02.133 --> 01:01:04.100
with lower melatonin levels,

01:01:04.133 --> 01:01:07.333
tumor growth was rapid
and fatal.

01:01:07.367 --> 01:01:14.333
- Tumors that may ordinarily
be dormant and not very active

01:01:14.367 --> 01:01:17.100
because melatonin is around,

01:01:17.133 --> 01:01:20.267
if the melatonin is suppressed,

01:01:20.300 --> 01:01:23.367
these tumors then become active
all the time.

01:01:34.533 --> 01:01:36.167
- \"For many months,
it was a pleasure

01:01:36.200 --> 01:01:38.500
\"to listen and watch your show
late at night.

01:01:38.533 --> 01:01:40.833
\"I think you\'re the classiest
host from VVTV.

01:01:40.867 --> 01:01:43.667
I wish you all the best luck
in your new job.\"

01:01:43.700 --> 01:01:45.200
\"I\'ve enjoyed you
and your honesty,

01:01:45.233 --> 01:01:48.867
your easygoing portrayals of
jewelry in a non-shrieking way.\"

01:01:48.900 --> 01:01:51.533
I mean, that was the amazing
part of this job.

01:01:51.567 --> 01:01:55.367
That\'s why it was so hard
to leave.

01:01:55.400 --> 01:01:58.567
I mean, shift work is definitely
part of broadcasting,

01:01:58.600 --> 01:02:00.800
and did it cause
my breast cancer?

01:02:00.833 --> 01:02:01.967
I don\'t know.

01:02:02.000 --> 01:02:03.133
I mean, there\'s other risks

01:02:03.167 --> 01:02:04.967
that certainly may have
played a factor.

01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:07.900
But what I do know
is that working overnights

01:02:07.933 --> 01:02:12.333
is extremely difficult
on your body.

01:02:12.367 --> 01:02:14.967
It was like moving
through molasses.

01:02:15.000 --> 01:02:16.700
It was like being a zombie.

01:02:16.733 --> 01:02:20.033
Sometimes I said it was like,
you know, my head\'s cut off,

01:02:20.067 --> 01:02:21.967
and it\'s being kept alive
in the TV set,

01:02:22.000 --> 01:02:24.833
you know, but my body is dying.

01:02:26.533 --> 01:02:28.000
Having your body supported

01:02:28.033 --> 01:02:30.500
is gonna make you feel
more comfortable.

01:02:30.533 --> 01:02:33.000
In the next 90 seconds,

01:02:33.033 --> 01:02:39.500
if the idea of a better
night\'s sleep appeals to you,

01:02:39.533 --> 01:02:41.833
the idea of sleeping better
at night,

01:02:41.867 --> 01:02:45.167
sleeping more comfortably
appeals to you,

01:02:45.200 --> 01:02:48.333
or maybe you want to give
somebody that gift of love,

01:02:48.367 --> 01:02:50.833
that gift of comfort
for Christmas,

01:02:50.867 --> 01:02:54.533
give us a call
if you have any questions...

01:02:57.800 --> 01:03:02.000
- If light... and we\'re still
at the hypothesis level...

01:03:02.033 --> 01:03:05.000
If light exposure at night
is a risk factor

01:03:05.033 --> 01:03:07.333
for a woman to develop
breast cancer

01:03:07.367 --> 01:03:10.500
or for a man to develop
prostate cancer,

01:03:10.533 --> 01:03:14.500
if that\'s true, then we really
need to know how much light

01:03:14.533 --> 01:03:17.667
and what quality of light
and how often

01:03:17.700 --> 01:03:20.867
and at what time of night
it is most problematic.

01:03:25.033 --> 01:03:26.667
- The World Health Organization

01:03:26.700 --> 01:03:31.000
has named overnight shift work
as a probable carcinogen,

01:03:31.033 --> 01:03:33.167
which was enough to make me wary

01:03:33.200 --> 01:03:36.700
of the light trespassing
into my bedroom at night.

01:03:40.467 --> 01:03:41.933
Across the world,

01:03:41.967 --> 01:03:45.633
light is used as a measure
of progress, of development.

01:03:48.733 --> 01:03:50.700
For the first time
in the history of the planet,

01:03:50.733 --> 01:03:54.233
more people live in cities now
than in the countryside.

01:04:00.333 --> 01:04:04.533
These photographs were taken
by an astronaut named Don Pettit

01:04:04.567 --> 01:04:06.867
aboard the International
Space Station,

01:04:06.900 --> 01:04:10.000
looking down on
the constellation of humanity,

01:04:10.033 --> 01:04:13.333
as I, with my homemade telescope
in Maine,

01:04:13.367 --> 01:04:15.200
tried to look the other way.

01:04:24.667 --> 01:04:26.800
[crickets chirping]

01:04:26.833 --> 01:04:29.533
One night a few years ago,

01:04:29.567 --> 01:04:32.633
someone broke
into my family\'s barn in Maine

01:04:32.667 --> 01:04:35.400
and stole a bunch
of my father\'s tools.

01:04:38.833 --> 01:04:41.800
My family responded
by installing an enormous light

01:04:41.833 --> 01:04:44.333
on the corner of the barn.

01:04:47.500 --> 01:04:50.133
We haven\'t had any break-ins
since then,

01:04:50.167 --> 01:04:53.500
but night has never been
quite the same.

01:05:18.033 --> 01:05:20.067
- The early impetus,

01:05:20.100 --> 01:05:23.900
as recently
as 300, 400 years ago,

01:05:23.933 --> 01:05:29.400
for public lighting was crime.

01:05:29.433 --> 01:05:35.433
[dramatic music]

01:05:37.967 --> 01:05:41.767
Virtually, every ancient
civilization

01:05:41.800 --> 01:05:45.133
that has left clues
of some sort...

01:05:45.167 --> 01:05:48.733
Stone tablets
or works of history...

01:05:48.767 --> 01:05:53.733
Every civilization
had a fear of the night.

01:05:57.467 --> 01:06:03.333
- This has been an area
plagued by narcotics and guns

01:06:03.367 --> 01:06:06.167
in a perennial fashion.

01:06:06.200 --> 01:06:10.667
Now, you can look
along the roadways here

01:06:10.700 --> 01:06:14.000
and see how dimly lit it is.

01:06:14.033 --> 01:06:16.833
Darker areas tend to be
backfilled by offenders,

01:06:16.867 --> 01:06:19.333
and they like that
because they can operate

01:06:19.367 --> 01:06:21.167
under the concealment
of darkness.

01:06:21.200 --> 01:06:22.200
They can hide guns.

01:06:22.233 --> 01:06:23.333
They can hide drugs.

01:06:23.367 --> 01:06:24.667
They can wear dark clothing

01:06:24.700 --> 01:06:28.000
and recede into the recesses
of the alleyways.

01:06:28.033 --> 01:06:29.833
That is dark right there.

01:06:29.867 --> 01:06:33.167
[police sirens wailing]

01:06:33.200 --> 01:06:37.833
If the area becomes
too well-lit, oftentimes,

01:06:37.867 --> 01:06:40.333
drug dealers will shoot
the lights out

01:06:40.367 --> 01:06:42.167
to provide their own darkness.

01:06:42.200 --> 01:06:44.833
[sirens wailing]

01:06:44.867 --> 01:06:48.167
When I was here in 1989
and the early 1990s,

01:06:48.200 --> 01:06:52.167
this park was nothing more
than a sandlot,

01:06:52.200 --> 01:06:54.167
and there were frequently fights
in here.

01:06:54.200 --> 01:06:56.000
There have been a number
of homicides

01:06:56.033 --> 01:06:58.000
and sexual assaults.

01:06:58.033 --> 01:07:03.233
History is replete with examples
of poorly lit nighttime areas

01:07:03.267 --> 01:07:06.733
that are transformed by light.

01:07:06.767 --> 01:07:08.567
Fencing that you see here
is all brand-new.

01:07:08.600 --> 01:07:11.233
The lighting stanchions
are brand-new.

01:07:11.267 --> 01:07:13.733
- The neighborhood is filled
with drugs and gangs

01:07:13.767 --> 01:07:16.233
and shootings
and things like that.

01:07:16.267 --> 01:07:17.900
The lighting is not good at all,

01:07:17.933 --> 01:07:19.533
but the lighting here
is wonderful.

01:07:19.567 --> 01:07:20.700
- Hmm.
- It\'s wonderful.

01:07:20.733 --> 01:07:21.867
You can see anything.

01:07:21.900 --> 01:07:23.700
You can see everything
that\'s going on,

01:07:23.733 --> 01:07:25.867
and it does have a lot to do
with lighting.

01:07:25.900 --> 01:07:27.467
- You could see
if somebody\'s behind you.

01:07:27.500 --> 01:07:29.233
Like, if I\'m walking,
and he comes behind me,

01:07:29.267 --> 01:07:31.233
I could just see his shadow
\'cause there\'s lights.

01:07:31.267 --> 01:07:32.433
But in a dark alley,

01:07:32.467 --> 01:07:34.107
somebody just gonna pop up
out of nowhere.

01:07:34.133 --> 01:07:35.267
- Yeah.

01:07:35.300 --> 01:07:37.467
- Changing the lighting
is a lot better.

01:07:37.500 --> 01:07:40.467
It\'s a lot safer
for the kids now, you know.

01:07:40.500 --> 01:07:42.467
Most of the people
in the neighborhood

01:07:42.500 --> 01:07:44.133
always keep it on now,

01:07:44.167 --> 01:07:46.733
so it\'s not like
it used to be before.

01:07:51.267 --> 01:07:54.067
- There is controversy
over whether more light

01:07:54.100 --> 01:07:56.733
leads to less crime,

01:07:56.767 --> 01:07:58.067
but there is agreement

01:07:58.100 --> 01:08:00.800
that light seems to make people
feel safer,

01:08:00.833 --> 01:08:02.967
almost like it\'s built
into our genes

01:08:03.000 --> 01:08:06.433
to move closer to the campfire
or to the brightest city.

01:08:11.033 --> 01:08:13.167
- For most of human history,

01:08:13.200 --> 01:08:16.067
it was basically a struggle
against the darkness.

01:08:16.100 --> 01:08:18.900
It was a struggle to make
the smallest of illuminations

01:08:18.933 --> 01:08:22.233
in this enormously dark night.

01:08:22.267 --> 01:08:26.567
Until the 19th century,
darkness did control the night,

01:08:26.600 --> 01:08:30.233
so the struggle to build cities
with more and more light

01:08:30.267 --> 01:08:32.567
was a struggle
to dominate the night

01:08:32.600 --> 01:08:35.067
rather than be dominated
by the night.

01:08:39.000 --> 01:08:42.133
- Light does facilitate

01:08:42.167 --> 01:08:46.233
social interaction
on a massive scale.

01:08:48.333 --> 01:08:53.133
In 1846, a Parisian proclaims,

01:08:53.167 --> 01:08:58.100
\"The reign of night
is finally going to end.\"

01:09:03.067 --> 01:09:04.700
- Look at this whole place.

01:09:04.733 --> 01:09:07.033
Look at the wonderful
Christmas decorations,

01:09:07.067 --> 01:09:09.267
the Christmas lights,

01:09:09.300 --> 01:09:12.267
the floodlights bathing this
in a white light.

01:09:12.300 --> 01:09:14.100
And look at all the people.

01:09:14.133 --> 01:09:16.267
They\'ve made it
an inviting place,

01:09:16.300 --> 01:09:17.933
and who wouldn\'t want
to be here?

01:09:17.967 --> 01:09:21.100
It\'s bright, sparkly, dynamic,
kinetic.

01:09:21.133 --> 01:09:23.267
And if you\'re not fascinated
by that,

01:09:23.300 --> 01:09:24.967
you should be put in a box.

01:09:28.200 --> 01:09:30.000
[car horn blares]

01:09:30.033 --> 01:09:31.700
- New York!

01:09:33.100 --> 01:09:34.567
- There\'s just so much going on.

01:09:34.600 --> 01:09:36.467
The lights.

01:09:36.500 --> 01:09:40.500
I mean, everywhere you turn,
there\'s something significant.

01:09:46.233 --> 01:09:50.133
- The twinkling of cities
at night always says to me,

01:09:50.167 --> 01:09:53.300
\"Look at us as a species,
you know.

01:09:53.333 --> 01:09:54.633
\"You\'ve seen anthills.

01:09:54.667 --> 01:09:57.967
\"You\'ve seen the nests
of bowerbirds.

01:09:58.000 --> 01:09:59.667
This is what we do.\"

01:10:01.800 --> 01:10:05.600
- In the 1930s,
the Swiss architect Le Corbusier

01:10:05.633 --> 01:10:08.033
visited New York,
and he was really struck by it.

01:10:08.067 --> 01:10:12.367
He says, \"It\'s a Milky Way
brought down to Earth.\"

01:10:12.400 --> 01:10:15.400
With electricity,
a whole new era opened up.

01:10:20.400 --> 01:10:22.533
- You could think of our era
as the one in which

01:10:22.567 --> 01:10:25.200
the stars disappeared
from the sky

01:10:25.233 --> 01:10:29.200
and reappeared
in our city skylines,

01:10:29.233 --> 01:10:30.933
which could help explain why

01:10:30.967 --> 01:10:33.433
I began to feel
a kind of affection

01:10:33.467 --> 01:10:36.433
for the way the city
used light as art,

01:10:36.467 --> 01:10:39.800
as celebration, as tribute.

01:10:53.167 --> 01:10:55.800
But at this point,
I also saw the birds

01:10:55.833 --> 01:10:58.367
flickering and lost
in the city lights

01:10:58.400 --> 01:11:01.967
and the streetlight
pouring in my bedroom window.

01:11:03.733 --> 01:11:08.067
Though we might love the light,
we might also need the dark.

01:11:13.700 --> 01:11:18.033
- An important part of our work
and my work

01:11:18.067 --> 01:11:22.300
is to explain
and convince my clients

01:11:22.333 --> 01:11:24.800
that they don\'t need
so much light.

01:11:24.833 --> 01:11:29.133
They need light
where it\'s required

01:11:29.167 --> 01:11:32.133
but not in a very uniform way,

01:11:32.167 --> 01:11:34.433
not diffused all over the place.

01:11:36.967 --> 01:11:40.267
When you have a very diffuse
light, you have great...

01:11:40.300 --> 01:11:41.767
You have a lot of glare.

01:11:41.800 --> 01:11:43.100
And you look here.

01:11:43.133 --> 01:11:44.933
You have no idea that
you have a sky behind you.

01:11:44.967 --> 01:11:46.100
You see the glare.

01:11:46.133 --> 01:11:47.433
You have no idea where you are.

01:11:47.467 --> 01:11:50.100
You could be anywhere.

01:11:50.133 --> 01:11:52.100
So it\'s still
under construction here.

01:11:52.133 --> 01:11:54.767
It\'s not finished yet.

01:11:54.800 --> 01:11:57.433
- When Hervé Descottes
designed the lights

01:11:57.467 --> 01:12:01.667
for New York\'s newest park,
the High Line in Manhattan,

01:12:01.700 --> 01:12:04.833
he designed them
with the night in mind.

01:12:04.867 --> 01:12:08.667
- You can see, the light
is completely hidden here.

01:12:08.700 --> 01:12:11.333
It\'s underneath here.

01:12:11.367 --> 01:12:14.000
So you don\'t see
the light source.

01:12:14.033 --> 01:12:16.700
And look at the effect.

01:12:23.400 --> 01:12:26.533
Try to imagine
a different type of city light.

01:12:26.567 --> 01:12:31.533
How could we light our city
in a more careful way,

01:12:31.567 --> 01:12:36.367
where you feel safe,
where you find your direction?

01:12:36.400 --> 01:12:38.200
It\'s where you can escape

01:12:38.233 --> 01:12:40.867
and be connected
to a darker sky.

01:12:46.433 --> 01:12:48.400
- A darker city sky is,

01:12:48.433 --> 01:12:51.933
when it comes down to it,
a matter of design.

01:12:54.867 --> 01:12:57.000
On many lights,
the light doesn\'t actually

01:12:57.033 --> 01:13:00.233
go down to the ground
or light what\'s below.

01:13:00.267 --> 01:13:03.733
It actually goes up.

01:13:03.767 --> 01:13:06.567
It\'s like having a sprinkler
in your yard,

01:13:06.600 --> 01:13:09.067
but only half of the water
goes on the yard,

01:13:09.100 --> 01:13:12.267
and the rest somehow
blasts up into outer space.

01:13:16.700 --> 01:13:20.333
- There was a time
when smokestacks showed

01:13:20.367 --> 01:13:24.000
how affluent your society was,

01:13:24.033 --> 01:13:28.433
but we look at these now
almost with disdain.

01:13:28.467 --> 01:13:32.767
Lights... our light pollution
will probably fall

01:13:32.800 --> 01:13:34.100
in the same category,

01:13:34.133 --> 01:13:38.100
where now we equate
the wealth of your society

01:13:38.133 --> 01:13:42.100
with how many lights
you can burn at nighttime.

01:13:42.133 --> 01:13:45.933
And in the future, I predict
affluent societies,

01:13:45.967 --> 01:13:47.600
they will still be producing

01:13:47.633 --> 01:13:50.900
all the necessary light
they need for nighttime use

01:13:50.933 --> 01:13:54.733
but not so much light
that it bleeds off into space

01:13:54.767 --> 01:13:57.600
and spoils our nighttime sky.

01:14:00.300 --> 01:14:02.267
- Partly because
wasted light represents

01:14:02.300 --> 01:14:04.767
a tremendous loss of money,

01:14:04.800 --> 01:14:07.267
engineers are designing
full cutoff lights

01:14:07.300 --> 01:14:10.267
that direct light only downward,
where it is needed.

01:14:12.667 --> 01:14:14.967
And many communities
across the country,

01:14:15.000 --> 01:14:17.967
including one just up the road
from my childhood home,

01:14:18.000 --> 01:14:21.933
are enacting new ordinances
that restrict wasteful light.

01:14:26.500 --> 01:14:28.700
[seagulls screeching]

01:14:32.367 --> 01:14:35.667
- We\'re now a week away
from the November 4th election,

01:14:35.700 --> 01:14:37.333
a big election for many,
many reasons.

01:14:37.367 --> 01:14:39.500
Here on Mount Desert Island,

01:14:39.533 --> 01:14:42.500
a lighting ordinance
is up for ratification

01:14:42.533 --> 01:14:44.667
by the town of Bar Harbor,

01:14:44.700 --> 01:14:47.367
and we\'re hopeful
that it will pass.

01:14:50.600 --> 01:14:53.833
- This is considered
one of the last remaining

01:14:53.867 --> 01:14:57.167
pristine dark night skies
on the East Coast.

01:14:57.200 --> 01:15:00.233
There definitely is a sense
of urgency in this area.

01:15:00.267 --> 01:15:03.067
Folks are seeing
the big-box stores arrive

01:15:03.100 --> 01:15:07.100
along with big lights
in the parking lots and so on.

01:15:16.767 --> 01:15:19.733
- I went out
to different neighborhoods.

01:15:19.767 --> 01:15:21.733
I\'d say, \"Okay,
why do you live here?

01:15:21.767 --> 01:15:25.233
And what\'s so great about living
in this part of Bar Harbor?\"

01:15:25.267 --> 01:15:28.567
And they all said,
\"We love our night sky.

01:15:28.600 --> 01:15:31.600
We love going out at night
and looking up.\"

01:15:33.633 --> 01:15:35.100
It really boils down to,

01:15:35.133 --> 01:15:38.233
you know, only put light
where you need it.

01:15:41.533 --> 01:15:44.000
- Bar Harbor passed
its lighting ordinance,

01:15:44.033 --> 01:15:46.567
and back at my family\'s house,
we followed suit.

01:15:46.600 --> 01:15:48.833
[wrench clicking]

01:15:54.967 --> 01:15:56.767
Though our new light
would save us money

01:15:56.800 --> 01:15:59.800
on the electricity bill
every month,

01:15:59.833 --> 01:16:01.933
it was harder to put my finger
on what we gained

01:16:01.967 --> 01:16:03.933
as the stars came back...

01:16:06.633 --> 01:16:09.133
Some unnamable feeling.

01:16:13.967 --> 01:16:15.267
Perhaps the night sky

01:16:15.300 --> 01:16:18.267
and whatever stars
we are lucky enough to see

01:16:18.300 --> 01:16:20.767
helps us reorient,

01:16:20.800 --> 01:16:22.833
helps restore something in us

01:16:22.867 --> 01:16:24.433
that we didn\'t know
we were missing.

01:16:30.400 --> 01:16:33.033
- We have lived under the stars

01:16:33.067 --> 01:16:37.700
for the vast majority
of our experience.

01:16:37.733 --> 01:16:39.867
Go back the last million years.

01:16:39.900 --> 01:16:43.967
How much of that time
have we been inside

01:16:44.000 --> 01:16:46.633
in air-conditioned,
heated,

01:16:46.667 --> 01:16:49.767
hermetically sealed
little boxes?

01:16:49.800 --> 01:16:51.600
It\'s very recent.

01:16:54.133 --> 01:16:57.767
So naturally,
there\'s a kind of dislocation.

01:16:57.800 --> 01:17:01.333
You know, it seems to be
that there\'s this desire

01:17:01.367 --> 01:17:04.833
to know what the universe
is like.

01:17:04.867 --> 01:17:08.167
You know, this is the mystery
that we were all born into.

01:17:10.067 --> 01:17:13.033
- I remember lying on my back
as a kid

01:17:13.067 --> 01:17:15.367
and trying to wrap my head
around the fact

01:17:15.400 --> 01:17:18.133
that the Earth
was twirling through space,

01:17:18.167 --> 01:17:22.800
a tiny sphere among billions
and billions of other spheres.

01:17:22.833 --> 01:17:26.300
- I remember seeing aurora
outside my bedroom window.

01:17:26.333 --> 01:17:28.633
- It was always a treat
to go out to the Sierra Nevada

01:17:28.667 --> 01:17:30.133
and to see,
you know, the Milky Way.

01:17:30.167 --> 01:17:31.633
- Of course,
I was in the Boy Scouts,

01:17:31.667 --> 01:17:32.967
so we were always camping out.

01:17:33.000 --> 01:17:34.800
- I remember
the first night there.

01:17:34.833 --> 01:17:36.967
- I went to school
up in Lancashire,

01:17:37.000 --> 01:17:39.133
and that was out in dark skies.

01:17:39.167 --> 01:17:41.300
- And I looked up,
and I saw a shooting star.

01:17:41.333 --> 01:17:44.800
- Seeing for the first time
the rings of Saturn.

01:17:44.833 --> 01:17:47.800
- I remember telling the kids
at school what I\'d seen.

01:17:47.833 --> 01:17:49.133
They wouldn\'t believe me.

01:17:49.167 --> 01:17:52.167
- It was a sensation
that I never had before.

01:17:56.200 --> 01:17:57.700
- If you come here
and you just look up,

01:17:57.733 --> 01:17:59.900
like, it feels like you\'re
in a whole different place.

01:18:02.833 --> 01:18:05.467
- What I think, like,
when I look up there,

01:18:05.500 --> 01:18:06.967
like, I want to go there
one day,

01:18:07.000 --> 01:18:08.733
like to experience that.

01:18:11.367 --> 01:18:12.667
- Like, when we look up
at the sky,

01:18:12.700 --> 01:18:14.767
like, you see, like,
this is so big,

01:18:14.800 --> 01:18:16.967
and then we, like, just try
to look deeper and deeper.

01:18:21.167 --> 01:18:25.467
- The reason to be able
to see the night sky is really...

01:18:25.500 --> 01:18:30.633
In the end, I think it\'s more
spiritual than practical.

01:18:30.667 --> 01:18:34.133
- Imagining how far away
the stars are

01:18:34.167 --> 01:18:36.133
and grasping that.

01:18:36.167 --> 01:18:38.300
And what is coming of age

01:18:38.333 --> 01:18:42.000
but realizing that you\'re not
the center of the universe?

01:18:53.033 --> 01:18:56.500
- You could live your life
at home, never looking up.

01:18:56.533 --> 01:19:00.567
I just submit to you
that you\'ll be missing.

01:19:00.600 --> 01:19:02.733
You\'ll be missing
a point of view.

01:19:02.767 --> 01:19:05.267
You\'ll be missing
a cosmic perspective.

01:19:06.700 --> 01:19:08.033
Because you know what\'ll happen?

01:19:08.067 --> 01:19:10.100
You\'ll start thinking
of your own environment

01:19:10.133 --> 01:19:11.633
as all there is.

01:19:11.667 --> 01:19:15.133
And if that\'s how you think
about where you are,

01:19:15.167 --> 01:19:21.467
then it rises to an artificial
level of importance to you.

01:19:21.500 --> 01:19:23.133
Whereas when you look
at the night sky,

01:19:23.167 --> 01:19:27.133
and you realize how small we are
within the cosmos,

01:19:27.167 --> 01:19:31.867
it\'s kind of
a resetting of your ego.

01:19:31.900 --> 01:19:35.533
To deny yourself
of that state of mind,

01:19:35.567 --> 01:19:39.133
either willingly or unwittingly,
in my judgment

01:19:39.167 --> 01:19:44.467
is to not live
to the full extent

01:19:44.500 --> 01:19:46.300
of what it is to be human.

01:19:57.700 --> 01:19:58.667
- Let\'s see.

01:19:58.700 --> 01:20:03.167
1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

01:20:03.200 --> 01:20:07.333
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11...

01:20:07.367 --> 01:20:11.000
15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20...

01:20:11.033 --> 01:20:17.167
29, 30, 31, 32.

01:20:17.200 --> 01:20:19.200
32 stars.

01:21:27.300 --> 01:21:33.300
[vibrant acoustic music]

01:21:53.733 --> 01:21:56.367
- [singing]
Do-do, do-do

01:21:56.400 --> 01:21:58.400
Do-do, do-do,
do, do, do...

01:22:04.200 --> 01:22:07.000
Do-do, do-do, do

01:22:07.033 --> 01:22:10.200
Do-do, do-do
do, do, do...

01:22:36.767 --> 01:22:41.433
Ooh, ooh-ooh...