What can be done to make nighttime lighting at JMU more cost effective and less obtrusive to the environment?
Students will share their ideas 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 31 in a program they are calling “#JMU2025: Reimagining Campus Lighting.” The discussion in Room 1261 of Harrison Hall, led by 10 students taking Environment 400, is part of the third annual Starry Nights Harrisonburg, a series of events designed to raise awareness about light pollution and some simple solutions for addressing it.
A screening of the award-winning documentary, “The City Dark,” will highlight the beginning of Starry Nights Harrisonburg at7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 30 in the Anthony Seeger auditorium. Starry Nights creators Dr. Paul Bogard and planetarium director Shanil Virani will introduce the week and its events before the film.
Two events will be held Friday, April 1: A dark sky program at the Edith J. Carrier Arboretum and a public star party at the JMU astronomy park in the meadow behind the physics and chemistry building.
The final event, from 8-11 p.m. Saturday, April 2, will be a discussion of astrophotography by astrophotographer Daniel Stein, a senior at JMU, and a star party at the Byrd Visitor Center at Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park.
Thursday’s program on improving lighting at JMU will feature presentations from the students as well as a discussion with the audience. “We hope to generate conversations with audience members regarding how we can move forward in enhancing safety, human and environmental health, and building aesthetics on our campus and in our community,” said Rachel Palkovitz, one of the student presenters.
Palkovitz said the students will show four films, each about five minutes long, that they produced to highlight different aspects of lighting and lighting science on the JMU campus. The students split up into three groups to research how they would address lighting on three campus locations: the Quad, East Campus and the Arboretum.
More details about the events are available on the John C. Wells Planetarium website at jmu.edu/
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