Light Justice in the Big Bend

The Big Bend has some of the darkest night skies in the world, but light in the region’s towns closely mirrors what we see in larger cities—light pollution is unevenly distributed among communities of color and lower income residents. 

Reducing light pollution is critical for wildlife habitat and astronomical research, but there’s an important human side to the work, too. Artificial light disrupts the 24-hour day/night cycle, known as the circadian clock. and its disruption is linked to depression, insomnia, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and sleep disorders. Underserved, under-resourced communities often endure poor lighting, which is detrimental to wellbeing—the Big Bend is no different. 

Take a look at this map of Alpine; this heat map shows the density of the non-compliant municipal and residential mercury vapor light locations. Notice anything? 

Heat map of Alpine showing density of non-compliant mercury vapor fixtures,

The majority of this light type is creating light pollution in formerly segregated parts of town, south of the railroad tracks, and in small pockets of lower income neighborhoods. This map doesn’t show all light pollution in Alpine, just the density of a specific type of fixture, and it doesn’t explain the origins of the lights or why they have not been changed to date, but it does present us with a powerful visual in which to ask questions and helps us develop program goals.

Big Bend Conservation Alliance uses an equity and environmental justice lens in all of our programming and when we started raising money for Serious Starlight, we began to ask ourselves how we could utilize the funding in a way that would align with our values. The mapping helped us see that a program to replace the mercury vapor guard lights could solve some of the worst light pollution, while taking an equity-centered approach to the work.

BBCA’s lighting incentive program swaps older mercury vapor style guard lights (left) with fully shielded fixtures (right).

This past year we’ve been offering a lighting incentive program to residents with qualifying mercury vapor lights—BBCA pays for the swap to a compliant light ($150 value), we offer a $50 gift card from Porter’s to opt into the program, and the resident saves about $3 per month on electricity.

This heat map of Marfa shows density of mercury vapor lights before the program (left) and during the program after swapping roughly 40% of the eligible fixtures (right). Marfa is similar to Alpine in that the highest density of fixtures are found south of the railroad tracks in formerly segregated areas of town and in small pockets of lower income areas.

The program takes time because we are often working one-on-one with property owners, building trust, and replacing one light at a time. We’ve been making a lot of headway; to date 27.8% of the eligible fixtures in the region will be changed. This percentage will only grow as we continue to have conversations with homeowners.

Marfa Housing Authority before (top) with mercury vapor fixtures and after (bottom) with fully shielded fixtures installed. Notice in the bottom image how you can’t see the lights in the background because they are now fully shielded.

Some of this work has had an even larger impact—for example, the Marfa Housing Authority in Marfa and the Big Bend Apartments in Presidio, have opted their complexes into the program helping reduce light pollution across large sections of town. And, in an effort to support subsidized housing managers and their residents, we’ve set aside funding, so that any subsidized housing complex that would like to opt into the program can do so. 

Protecting dark skies is part of our mission; we are humbled to have the opportunity to reduce light pollution, while also supporting residents of the region in the light justice everyone deserves. 

Learn more about the Light Justice movement and watch Edward Bartholomew’s presentation for the International Dark-Sky Association’s advocates meeting. 

Serious Starlight is supported by the public through a GoFundMe fundraiser. Additional funds have been raised for the program through the generosity of Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation, Big Bend Telephone, Permian Basin Area Foundation, Still Water Foundation, Tito's Handmade Vodka, and Union Pacific Foundation.