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International audience; Flagstaff, Arizona, United States, April 15, 1958: the city council adopts the ordinance n°440 which aims at “preventing a rapid deterioration of the visibility of the starry sky”. This regulation results from the mobilization of the Lowell Observatory astronomers against certain public lighting devices. Through this political act, the elected officials place their city at the epicenter of an emergent international movement: the ‘Dark-sky movement’. The first replica of this movement is felt in 1972 in Tucson, Arizona. From a discomfort perceived by astronomers from the Lowell and Kitt Peak observatories, the idea of ‘light pollution’ emerges and begins to spread through different networks and authorities in astronomy and lighting. The negative effects of artificial nocturnal light (ALAN) spread with the urban sprawl, and leads in the 90's, under the aegis of professional astronomers, to attempts at the patrimonialization of the starry sky in international organizations such as UNESCO. However, these attempts remain at the level of a declaration of principle: the starry sky, an intangible asset, does not fall within the criteria of UNESCO's heritage protection. The associations of the Dark-sky movement pursue their objective of preserving the starry sky by relying on ‘International dark sky places’, built on the center-periphery spatial model of protected areas. The recent rise in ecological issues and human and non-human well-being are redefining the methods of combating light pollution and its governance. Our communication will return to this paradigm shift. It will discuss the concept of the ‘dark ecological network’ as a social-ecological framework capable of extending the fight against light pollution to exceptional as well as ordinary skies. We will thus show that for us, making the starry sky a common good involves the territorialization of the darkness preservation in remarkable and ordinary territories.

Si « ce qui est rare est cher », alors ce qui se raréfie prend de la valeur. Plus exactement, et parce qu’il n’est pas de création ex nihilo, la valeur de cette chose, jusqu’alors méconnue ou négligée, se trouve révélée par la menace de son érosion. Sous l’effet de la pollution lumineuse, l’obscurité et le ciel étoilé́ sont de ces objets devenus rares et dont nous mesurons les apports maintenant qu’ils semblent nous échapper. En réaction, des territoires organisent la protection de ces « objets de nature » devenus chers, activant ainsi leurs multiples valeurs. Les pieds sur terre et la tête dans les étoiles, nous remontons le fil des valeurs qui émergent de la filière ciel étoilé et des multiples services et activités qu’elle valorise, et pas que monétairement. En tension avec d’autres activités et besoins humains, l’accessibilité à l’obscurité et donc au ciel étoilé est de plus en plus inégalement répartie dans l’espace. Pour autant, cette disparité spatiale se mue en une nouvelle carte à jouer pour des territoires jusqu’alors isolés des gains de la modernité. If “that which is rare is precious”, then that which becomes scarce gains value. More precisely—and because nothing is created ex nihilo—the value of that thing, previously little-known or neglected, ends up being revealed by the threat of its erosion. Under the effect of light pollution, darkness and the starry sky are among those objects that have become rare, and we are assessing what they provide now that they seem to be eluding us. In reaction to this, territories are organising the protection of these “objects of nature” that have become precious, thus activating their multiple values. Feet on the ground and head in the stars, we look at values that are emerging from the starry sky industry and from the multiple services and activities it valorises, not only monetarily. Being in tension with other human needs and activities, access to darkness and therefore to the starry sky is more and more unequally distributed in space. Nevertheless, for territories previously isolated from the gains of modernity, this spatial disparity is turning into a new card to play.

In this project, the causes and consequences of light pollution were discussed. The students concluded that light pollution is not only responsible for the “disappearance” of the starry sky in cities, but also a threat to living beings and a huge waste of energy. They also concluded that the measures to avoid light pollution are within the reach of citizens and municipalities and are based on the use of energy-efficient exterior lighting that directs light only downwards. Students shared their findings with the community and, at the same time, developed an interest in Astronomy, together with their families.

National audience

Manuscrit auteur, 16 pages, article disponible en ligne. Pour citer cet article : Challéat Samuel. " Sauver la Nuit "Géographie de la pollution lumineuse. Sciences Humaines Combinées [en ligne], Numéro 8 - Actes du colloque interdoctoral 2011, 15 septembre 2011. Disponible sur Internet : http://revuesshs.u-bourgogne.fr/lisit491/document.php?id=840 ISSN 1961-9936; International audience; La nuit n'est pas un espace-temps inexploré par le géographe, mais il reste jeune et nécessite donc d'être observé, afin d'être cerné, dans une globalité parfois déroutante, mais souvent stimulante. Si la nuit, et plus spécifiquement la nuit urbaine, a effectivement été appréhendée par le chercheur, il s'agit souvent - encore aujourd'hui - d'analyser comment cet espace-temps peut être optimisé dans ses différents usages, notamment par la lumière artificielle qui les accompagne. Prenant le contre-pied de ces démarches, nous proposons ici de montrer le renversement qui s'opère actuellement quant aux considérations de cette lumière artificielle, la faisant passer du statut quasi-exclusif de progrès technologique à celui d'une source de gêne, de nuisance, voire même de pollution.

National audience