One of my greatest passion projects has been helping people reconnect with the night sky — and protecting darkness as something valuable, vulnerable and worth fighting for.
Not simply because I love beautiful night skies — although I do — but because preserving darkness sits at the intersection of science, conservation, culture, tourism, human wellbeing and our connection to something far larger than ourselves.
Over the past decade I’ve had the privilege of helping establish Australia’s first Dark Sky Park in the Warrumbungles, contributing to Palm Beach becoming the Southern Hemisphere’s first Urban Night Sky Place, and founding the Australasian Dark Sky Alliance to advocate for the protection of natural night environments.
What many people don’t realise is that light pollution is one of the fastest-growing forms of environmental pollution globally, affecting wildlife, ecosystems, human health, energy use and our ability to see the stars. The loss of darkness is also the loss of cultural heritage, scientific connection and wonder.
One of the things I care about most deeply is helping people reconnect with the night sky — whether through tourism, storytelling, policy, citizen science or community action. Because once people truly experience a dark sky, they understand instinctively that it is something worth protecting.
I often say that darkness is not emptiness. It is habitat. It is heritage. It is perspective.
