When summer time comes around, most Americans tend to get away at least once for what is known as the camping experience.  We get all excited about being “away from it all,” and most of us enjoy the bliss of peering up to the night sky when darkness hits for the first time.  Big dipper.  Little dipper.  We start using “Milky Way” in sentences to refer to a galaxy instead of chocolate bars.  The luminous stars quiet us (they also give us neck cramps should we become too enchanted).

I appreciate my world; God’s earth.  It connects me to him.  I meditate- thoughts, prayers, praise.  Other times I just enjoy creation.

I wish that every time I looked to the sky at night, my breath would be taken away.  But I’ve weighed the benefits, and I’d much rather enjoy the the whole package that (sub)urban living offers.  City glows are just something I’ll have to live with.

All of that to say this: the latest conservation effort by environmentalists is DARKNESS.  In November 2008 National Geographic made its feature article “The End of Night: Why We Need Darkness.”  Four months later, readers are still writing to the editor clamoring about the injustice cities like Chicago are committing by lighting up the night sky.  Confused birds smash into sky-scrapers.  Baby turtles don’t know to head into the sea anymore.  Darkness is beginning to be referred to as a “natural resource.”  (consider that what is by definition the absence of light is being classified as a resource)

Darkness is valuable.  We need sleep.  It’s easier to sleep with the lights off (err…for those of who don’t believe monsters live in the closet).  The night was created by God and it is good.  But God didn’t created bed-times for people.  We aren’t programmed to shut off at dusk.  When we build civilizations we are celebrating our creative instinct; after all, we were made in the image of God.  We can’t rival God’s glory, but cities and the beauty of the night life that they provide are often necessary, convenient, and not to mention fun.  Furthermore, the bad guys don’t sleep at night.  Lighted streets and buildings offer us a certain level of safety.  Not everyone’s brave enough to go jogging in a dark park or walk their dog in a subdivision with no street lamps.

As in all things, we need to be responsible.  There is a line we may be approaching that I don’t want to cross either.  But for me right now, as long as I can see the stars up at Cheboygan State Park once a year, I’ll be fine.