East End Bright Skies Initiative Begins April 11

The first-annual East End Bright Skies Initiative will run from April 11 until April 18. The new event is the result of hard work from the East End Bright Skies Advisory Committee (EEBSAC), which was formed to encourage light optimization and increase awareness of dangerous driving conditions under an inky black sky, particularly given the region’s massive deer problem.

“We are aware that the first day of the Bright Skies Initiative interferes with the last day of the Dark Skies Initiative,” EEBSAC spokesperson Skye Negron said, “but dark skies and bright skies are not mutually exclusive. You could enjoy the starry night sky and drive safer if cat’s eyes were installed on major thoroughfares.”

To participate in Bright Skies, residents are encouraged to keep all lights on in their homes, string Christmas lights around their property, drive with their brights on, throw floating lights into outdoor bodies of water and to walk around with as many flashlights as possible. As an added inventive, the EEBSAC will reward the owner of the East End‘s most well lit household with a check to pay the April’s LIPA bill.