BECOME A COMMUNITY SCIENTIST — AFTER DARK!
FIND GLOW MURALS & RECORD A LIGHT POLLUTION READING
August–October 2025 | 8:00 – 10:00pm
GLOW MURALS
Artist Jenn Houle has created four sets of Glowing Murals for you to enjoy!
Thanks to a grant from Essex County Community Foundation's Creative Counties Initiative, we've partnered with artist Jenn Houle, as well as the DarkSky Massachusetts chapter on this two-part project:
1. Community Science
The public is invited to visit Jenn Houle's glowing murals at night at four Greenbelt properties between 8 and 10pm through October, to report light pollution levels on a data collection website. Sign up to receive the information on the locations of the murals and how to collect a light reading! (All nighttime visitors must sign up individually online and agree to the waiver.)
2. Pollinator Protection
Once the mural stones are removed, the ground will be ready for pollinator-friendly plantings in the spring.
Why pollinators? Why light pollution?
These topics are closely connected! Many of our pollinators are either active in the nighttime, or use the night sky to navigate during their migration. Extraneous artificial lighting disrupts their natural systems of communication and navigation, causing billions (yes, billions) of wildlife deaths each year. To protect these important species, scientists need to know where light pollution exists and to what extent. Naturalists and Dark Sky advocates hope to create Dark Sky Corridors of safety and reduce light pollution overall, to help protect biodiversity. Learn more at the DarkSky International website!
Sign up here to get instructions and the locations of the murals. Each participant must sign up individually (and sign the online waiver).