May 27
Amherst Cinema Amherst, MA
TicketsJames Lowenthal
Professor of Astronomy, Smith College
The City Dark— Rhythm of the Night: Reclaiming the Dark
Program Description
What do fireflies, breast cancer, crime, and the Milky Way have to do with each other? THE CITY DARK is a lyrical and haunting ode to natural darkness at night and the magic it offers, and a piercing warning about what we lose when we banish darkness at night with uncontrolled artificial lighting. Filmmaker Ian Cheney interviews medical doctors, cancer victims, conservation biologists, astronomers, police officers, lighting professionals, and historians around the world in a quest to understand why we are so obsessed with banishing darkness at night, and what the costs—both the obvious and the hidden—of light pollution really are.
Join astronomy professor James Lowenthal (Smith College) for an engaging discussion and talk-back after the screening, including how the Dark Sky Movement is defending the night right here in the Valley.
Film Synopsis
What do we know about light pollution and the loss of night?
After moving to NYC from rural Maine, filmmaker Ian Cheney asks a simple question—Do we need the stars?—taking him from Brooklyn to Mauna Kea, Paris, and beyond. Exploring the threat of killer asteroids in Hawaii, tracking hatching turtles along the Florida coast, and rescuing injured birds on Chicago streets, Cheney unravels the myriad implications of a globe glittering with lights—including increased breast cancer rates from exposure to light at night, and a generation of kids without a glimpse of the universe above. Featuring stunning astrophotography and a cast of eclectic scientists, THE CITY DARK is the definitive story of light pollution and the disappearing stars.
Photo credit: Argot Pictures
About the Speaker
James Lowenthal is the Mary Elizabeth Moses Professor of Astronomy at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, USA. He received his BS in Physics and Astronomy from Yale and his PhD in Astronomy from the University of Arizona. He studies the formation and evolution of galaxies, especially actively star-forming galaxies. He leads the local advocacy group Northampton City Lights; is the Massachusetts Chapter Leader for DarkSky; chairs the Light Pollution Sub-Committee of the American Astronomical Society Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment; and is President of the International Astronomical Union's Commission on Site Protection (i.e., light pollution). He spends as much time as he can outside under the stars.