wildly curious
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The End of Night

Image by Jose Angel/Creative Commonsvia flickr
Light Pollution, Tenerife, Canary Islands

Tuesday, we're talking about the night sky and what it means when the stars are obscured by light pollution. It's not just poetry and the wonder of the cosmos that's lost. Artificial light devours energy, disrupts our sleep patterns, and has even been linked to cancer. Yet eight in ten Americans born today won't ever live where they can see the Milky Way. Our guest is the writer Paul Bogard, whose new book is called "The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light."

Paul Bogard teaches creative nonfiction at James Madison University in Virginia. He is the editor of the anthology Let There Be Light: Testimony on Behalf of the Dark [Amazon/Indiebound] and author of the new book The End of Night [Amazon/Indiebound]

Learn more about the International Dark Sky Association

Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night," 1889

Doug Fabrizio has been reporting for KUER News since 1987, and became News Director in 1993. In 2001, he became host and executive producer of KUER's RadioWest, a one hour conversation/call-in show on KUER 90.1 in Salt Lake City. He has gained a reputation for his thoughtful style. He has interviewed everyone from Isabel Allende to the Dalai Lama, and from Madeleine Albright to Desmond Tutu. His interview skills landed him a spot as a guest host of the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation." He has won numerous awards for his reporting and for his work with RadioWest and KUED's Utah NOW from such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Broadcasters Association, the Public Radio News Directors Association and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.