2024 has been a spectacular year for night skywatchers. We’ve had the greatest shows of the aurora borealis in at leasta generation. For me, growing up in Tacoma, I had never seen them before in my 50 years on this planet. We have had amazing meteor showers and now we have a comet visiting us for the first time since Hale Bopp in 1997. However, for so many of us, the ability to see these phenomena have been obscured by our neighbors and our community who have not been paying attention or who fail to see the value of dark skies.

I live at the edge of Cappy’s Trails and many of the houses that are on the edge have bright flood lights that stream into the forest. Some people do not even turn off their lights even after they go to bed. This has a detrimental affect on the noctural wildlife of our area and that of migrating birds. But, it also negatively affects the health of our community. Studies have shown that light coming through your bedroom windows negatively affects the quality and quantity of sleep. It can lead to higher rates of depression. Studies have even shown that light at night increases the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Many people have moved here from the bright suburbs for the natural beauty of Port Townsend. Please don’t bring the suburbs to us. Turn your lights off when you go to bed. Have your flood lights be motion-activated so they turn off when no one is around, if they have to be on at all. Let’s make Port Townsend a “Dark Sky City” so that all of us can enjoy these amazing astronomical phenomena together.

Jeff Taylor

Port Townsend