International Dark Sky Association Annual General Meeting

“Advocating for Dark Skies Through Storytelling” on Sunday, November 11, 2018

As a Star Lore Historian, Mary Stewart Adams has led award-winning, humanities-based programs advocating for dark skies, with particular emphasis on how the “science” of each era becomes the story and even the mythology for later generations, which provokes the question: What is the story originating with our knowledge and experience of the stars now, and how is it informing the cultural life?

The further back we go through human history, the more evidence we find of how essential a knowledge of the stars was to community life, informing everything from where to build the sacred sites to how to the farm the land; from navigating the waters to teaching the next generations. Because of its intimate role in informing community life, star knowledge was regarded as the highest knowledge to be attained. What is the link between the scientific research and discovery of today with the fine arts and even the spiritual beliefs of the many cultures around the world that is not merely rooted in tradition, but is being fostered through constructive dialogue regarding the shared striving to know the human being in its environment? How does this dialogue, or lack of dialogue if that be the case, impact efforts to mitigate light pollution?