“Earth Week Live” began Friday, April 14, and programs conclude on Earth Day, April 22. Celebrate Earth Day everyday by joining educational, arts, and activist events either in person or virtually. Find listings on the Earth Week Live 2023 website. Also, access events on YouTube.
Earth and sky meet as International Dark Sky Week events are scheduled April 15 through Earth Day. For an introduction to the burgeoning movement to protect Earth’s skies from increasing light pollution, go to the International Dark Sky Association website. Find resources for Dark Sky Week programs here. Curious about a “dark sky preserve” in Maine and how to bring out more stars in the skies of our local towns? View “Defending the Dark: Preserving the Night Sky in Maine,” streaming free of charge or for a donation during the month of April. Experiencing dark, star-studded skies provides perspective, inspiration, and leads us to reflect on our humanity and place in the universe.
From Astronaut Nicole Stott in “Back to Earth: What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet – and Our Mission to Protect It“: “I am in awe of the role that each of us play as diverse creatures on this planet. I am in awe of the planet itself and how perfectly calibrated it is to sustain us (if we’d only respect it). I am in awe of the way this all makes me wonder about my own place on Earth, and how I can better appreciate, better respect, better “see” the planet itself and all the creatures I share it with … Astronauts are always trying to find ways to relate the impact of the experience they had viewing the Earth from space with experiences here on Earth. I’ve discovered, though, that the best way to access the awe and wonder here on the planet is to look closer … to open our eyes and hearts and minds to the details in all their simplicity and complexity.”
An early spring sunrise over eastern hills lit a conflagration in this east-facing woodland, sparking a primal connection in me to the awakening forest. See the filigree of treetop twigs and sense the sap rising into every flower and leaf bud. Sap is running, and New Englanders were in the sugarbush tapping maple trees until warm weather concluded the season. We drink from trees!
Are you prompted to stargaze by Jim Peterson’s view to the cosmos from Sedona, Ariz., a dark sky community? And by Bettymaya Foote’s magnificent sky reflected in Hunt Lake? Come out for “Stargazing over Baldwin Hill” in Egremont on Earth Day at 8:30 p.m. Enjoy naked eye stargazing and views through telescopes to cosmic galaxies. Meet me there with amateur astronomer Rick Costello—telescopes in tow—and storyteller of the stars Susan Bachelder and dark sky activist Janet Jensen. From Great Barrington, travel west on Route 23 to Route 71, turn right and proceed to Baldwin Hill East-West, turn left to find us. Cloudy skies postpones to Sunday, April 23, 8:30 p.m.
