Fifth annual Dark Sky Festival highlights arts, traditions and threats to Cook County's darkest skies in the world

CATHY WURZER: You may or may not already know this fun fact. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is one of only 17 certified international dark sky sanctuaries in the world. Every year, adventurers, artists, and photographers from around the globe travel to Cook County to experience the night sky. This Thursday marks the beginning of the fifth annual dark sky festival in Cook County where locals and visitors will celebrate one of the darkest skies in the world.

Joining us right now are two folks who will present at the festival. Jim Knutson-Kolodzne is an American Indian Education Consultant and member of the Native Skywatchers program. Jessica Heim co-leads the Community Engagement Hub of the International Astronomical Union's Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference. Oh, wow. That was a big one, Jessica. They're both on the line to talk about their presentations. Jim and Jessica, welcome.

JIM KNUTSON-KOLODZNE: Thank you.

JESSICA HEIM: Thanks for having us.

CATHY WURZER: Absolutely. I can maybe think about one or two experiences in my whole life where I've seen a completely dark sky, and it is it is amazing. I want to hear from both of you. What's the feeling you get when you look up at a truly dark sky? Jessica, we'll begin with you.

JESSICA HEIM: OK, yes. A truly dark sky. I think it's just this incredible sense of wonder and awe. To me, it's the ultimate stress reliever. Whatever you have going on in your personal day to day life like, you go, and you see the vastness of the universe.

And it's like everything just kind of melts away, and it's in perspective. And it's like you feel part of this larger cosmos, and you just feel better able to handle your life in context of that connection. So I guess that's how I would summarize it for me.

CATHY WURZER: How about you, Jim?

JIM KNUTSON-KOLODZNE: Well, two summers ago, I was on the Grand Portage Reservation during the summer. We were providing teacher training, and so we were up there in Grand Portage at night. It's unbelievable how big the sky is and how dark it is, and then you realize how small you are in the universe.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah. I love that. Can you tell me more, Jim, about how the moon and the stars have been important to Native folks?

JIM KNUTSON-KOLODZNE: Well, anyone can use evidence to learn about the natural world and identify patterns in nature and develop tools. In Ojibwe and Dakota culture, they use the knowledge and the use the use of patterns in the stars to predict and plan.

We're talking about cultures that have been staring at the sky for 10,000 years or more, and so they just made note, observed things that repeated over and over again, things that disappeared, came back. And then, that relationship between the sky world and our world, the earth-- paid attention to what happened when the stars came about and when they disappeared.

CATHY WURZER: Jessica, what makes for a certified dark sky? How does this guy become certified?

JESSICA HEIM: Yeah. So the International Dark Sky Association has now changed its name to Dark Sky International, but they have this dark sky places program. And there's a number of different categories of type of places. There's dark sky reserves, dark sky communities, dark sky parks. They all have different criteria.

Basically, it's a combination of-- the park needs to take an assessment of, what are the current levels of darkness in the night sky? They need to, before they do the certification and ongoing afterwards, keep track of how dark the skies are and measure and keep records of that.

And then simultaneously, they need to be aware of what lights they have in their park or whatever location it is and to modify the lighting. If it is like really blinding in your lights and in your eyes and going up at the sky, they change it to something that is not so blinding, that aims it at the ground where you need it.

It's a warmer color light. And so they need to monitor the lighting that they have in the park. And then the other element is the public education aspect. It's doing public education so that people understand what they're doing and why what dark sky friendly lighting is and why dark skies matter.

CATHY WURZER: Of course, last week-- and I know you probably both heard about this. There was all this talk about the northern lights, right? Of course, folks in northern Minnesota got to see the northern lights at their at their peak. Others of us down here in the south-- it was OK. Let's talk about light pollution here for just a moment. I'm wondering here, Jim. What risks is Cook County facing because of light pollution? Any?

[LAUGHTER]

JIM KNUTSON-KOLODZNE: That is not in my expertise. I would not know how to answer that question. I know that when we do see the northern lights, Ojibwe culture believe that you know the spirits are dancing up there in the night sky. We try not to take pictures of it. It's there to experience, but that's it.

CATHY WURZER: Well, then, Jessica. I'm curious about where you stand in terms of light pollution because you've actually looked at this. How does Cook County rank?

JESSICA HEIM: Yeah. Well, it's definitely a lot darker than a lot of places in Minnesota. There are maps you can look at to see where the biggest areas of light pollution are. I haven't recently looked at a specific Cook County map. But from my recollections from the last time I was up there and just knowing the population, it is like-- Grand Marais, any of the more urban areas, they generally will have some degree of light pollution.

It's a combination of things that impact the light pollution, so it's not like lights at night are bad or anything like that. But it is what kind of light. And what's happened in the last number of years is a lot of places have put in these really white LEDs, and those are a lot worse for light pollution.

And so now, there's a lot more warmer, kind of amber, yellow colored LEDs available. And I know there are dark sky advocates in Duluth and Grand Marais, Ely, and those areas that are working to raise awareness of this issue and make sure that the lighting that they have is more dark sky friendly. And so it's an ongoing process.

CATHY WURZER: What else can folks do or businesses do to keep the night sky dark?

JESSICA HEIM: Yeah. It's a combination of things. So one is, you look at, OK. Well, how much light do I really need and when do I need it? Because there's this tendency to believe that because some light at night will help me see better, therefore, if I put in a lot of light at night, I will see even better. And that really isn't true because you can have so much glare from the light, and it's not helpful.

So what you want to do is see, well, what is the minimum level that you actually need for whatever activity you're doing? Maybe have your light on a motion sensor or a timer so it's only providing the night the light when you need it. And then also, the color temperature matters. So if you can do 2200 Kelvin or less, which is kind of a yellow amber color, that is a lot less light polluting.

There's the design of the fixture. You want to make sure your light goes down at the ground where you need it, not in your eyes or up at the sky. And so those are some of the key things that you can keep in mind when lighting so that it's not only better for the sky, but it's also a lot kinder to the eye and helps you see better so you're not squinting and being blinded by your lights that are supposed to help you see.

CATHY WURZER: Say, Jim. Before we go, what are you going to be talking about during the festival?

JIM KNUTSON-KOLODZNE: Well, every culture from all time and locations around the world has their own constellation and star stories, and so the Native Skywatcher's goal is to share the knowledge that Indigenous people traditionally practice a sustainable way of living and sustainable engineering through a living and participatory relationship with the sky and the earth.

There's an Ojibwe saying that says everything you need is in the stars. Our culture and our stories and our patterns of behavior are all tied to the stars and their connection to Mother Earth.

CATHY WURZER: Oh. You know what? I got to come up and just see this and to experience the festival. You two just really painted a beautiful picture. Thank you for joining us, and good luck for the festival.

JIM KNUTSON-KOLODZNE: Thank you.

JESSICA HEIM: Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: Jessica Heim, Jim Knutson-Kolodzne. They're both giving multiple presentations at the Dark Sky Festival. That's this coming Thursday through Saturday, multiple venues all over Cook County. Cook County, of course, at the tip of the arrowhead in Northeastern Minnesota.

For a full list of the festivities, you can check out the website, visitcookcounty.com. Wow, that was a heck of a show. I'm glad you joined us here for Minnesota Now on MPR News.