A Week to Turn Off the Lights

Congress has discovered the night sky and, through a show of characteristic silliness, has proposed to celebrate it with legislation.

Nevada’s senators, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, joined by a couple of colleagues from neighboring states, have introduced a measure to create a National Dark Sky Week, an official span of days in which Americans are encouraged to look up and notice what has been there all along, free of charge and remarkably consistent.

Nevada, being ahead of the curve or at least ahead of the sunrise, already keeps such a week. It features places like Great Basin National Park, where the stars are so plentiful a man might suspect the government hasn’t yet figured out how to regulate them. There’s even a “Star Train” out of Ely, which suggests we have reached the point where we must organize transportation to see darkness.

The sponsors speak of wonder, conservation, and the renewed interest brought on by space missions, all admirable sentiments. Still, one cannot help but admire the peculiar instinct to pass a resolution encouraging citizens to do what their ancestors managed nightly without federal guidance: step outside and look up.

Now, I am in favor of dark skies. They are quiet, inexpensive, and have never filed a lawsuit.

But I confess a preference for solutions that involve fewer proclamations and more light switches. If the aim is to see the stars, a man might begin by turning off the porch bulb and resisting the urge to illuminate the county.

That said, if Congress wishes to endorse the Milky Way, I see little harm in it. It is one of the few enterprises that runs without subsidy, scandal, or committee.

And if a national week helps a few folks rediscover it, then by all means, declare away. Just don’t be surprised if the stars continue to shine whether Washington approves or not.