With growing awareness of the implications of artificial light exposure at night, various responses are starting to take off in different parts of the world. An innovative example to combat light pollution is the creation of dark spaces in golf-courses. This trend is particularly in North America in places like California, San Diego, Texas and Colorado, which is unsurprising considering that the International Dark-Sky Association was founded in nearby Arizona (Graham, 2020).
A particularly intriguing example is the Death Valley National Park, home to the Furnace Creek Golf Course, and located just 120 miles away from the heavily-light polluted Las Vegas. Despite its close proximity to the Neon Capital of the World, it is the first certified Dark Sky Reserve and largest dark-sky park worldwide (Graham, 2020). The video below sings praises of the Furnace Creek Resort as a Dark-Sky site.
Altogether, this shift towards darker golf courses can be understood as part of the larger “Dark Sky” movement under the International Dark-Sky Association. The International Dark-Sky Association offers Dark Sky Designations under 5 categories, in which golf courses are classified under 3 — Dark Sky Communities, Parks and Reserves (International Dark-Sky Association, 2020).
International Dark-Sky Movement
You might be surprised to find that the use of golf courses to create dark spaces is not an isolated case. In fact, it has been implemented across the world in continents beyond the Americas, extending to Europe and even Asia!
Despite a slow start to the Dark-Sky movement in Europe, great progress has been made presently. Interestingly, the places with the most certified Dark-Sky sites are Britain (14), Germany (5) and France (4) are in fact Europe’s three largest golf markets (Graham, 2020). Of the three countries, France is noted to have adopted the most progressive policies worldwide (enforcing light curfews, limiting emission, reducing glare and emissions of blue light significantly, a complete ban on light “trespasses” — lasers, sky beams, lit waterways etc.) despite its small volume of Dark-Sky Sites, serving as a reminder that having genuine intentions to reduce light pollution is the key to progress.
Similarly, in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, the carriers of the biggest golf markets in Asia are also slowly hopping on the “dark golfing” bandwagon (Graham, 2020). If implemented successfully, these countries can contribute greatly to the reduction of light pollution. A good example to illustrate the sheer extent of the golf industry is the Shizuoka Prefecture, home to the magnificent Mount Fuji, which houses 88 golf-courses alone.
One of Many Golf Courses in Shizuoka Prefecture with Mt. Fuji in View (Source: Explore Shizuoka, n.d.)
Golf courses might seem like an unconventional space to start our efforts toward reducing light pollution. However, there is a good reason why it has caught on in various parts of the world. Stay tuned as we shed light into the reasons why Golf Courses are an appropriate and favourable site of choice and how exactly they chart the course of change.
Till next time!
Trudie
References:
- Explore Shizuoka. (n.d.). [Photograph]. Explore Shizuoka. https://exploreshizuoka.com/golf-in-shizuoka/
- Graham, A. H. (2020, September 11). Golf is embracing the ‘Dark sky’ movement. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/climate/golf-dark-sky-movement.html
- International Dark-Sky Association. (2020, July 31). International Dark Sky Places. https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/