Dark skies and dark screens as a precondition for astronomy tourism and general well-being
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Dark skies and dark screens as a precondition for astronomy tourism and general well‑being Dajana Bjelajac1 · Bojan Đerčan1 · Sanja Kovačić1,2 Received: 25 February 2020 / Revised: 13 September 2020 / Accepted: 21 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Light pollution is one of the fastest-growing pollutants of the environment and considering the amount and diversity of negative consequences, it is a highly interdisciplinary subject. So far, most of the research about the negative influence of light pollution on human health was based on the disruption of the circadian clock, sleep deprivation, and other physical diseases. Together with artificial lighting, the rapid development of information and communication technology significantly contributed to the increased lighting levels in the indoor environment and at the same time influenced the perception of natural darkness as something unnatural and undesired. On the other hand, the same technologies can be a useful asset in the popularization of astronomy-related activities, thus promoting the necessity for dark skies preservation. This paper aims to emphasize the importance of dark skies and appropriate usage of ICTs in the nighttime hours for our psychological health and well-being in general and at the same time to propose astronomy tourism as a part of the sustainable tourism offer as a tool for fighting light pollution. Keywords Astronomy tourism · ICTs · Light pollution · Dark skies · Well-being · Mindfulness
* Dajana Bjelajac [email protected] Bojan Đerčan [email protected] Sanja Kovačić [email protected] 1
Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
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South Ural State University, Institute of Sports Tourism and Service, 76 Lenin Ave., 454080 Chelyabinsk, Russia
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1 Introduction Light pollution can be considered as one of the negative products of urbanization processes that are rapidly increasing worldwide (Mizon 2002; Bjelajac and Đerčan 2019). The main consequences of this type of pollutant can be grouped into the following categories—the disappearance of dark skies due to the skyglow, the disruption of biological timings and general behavior of animals and plants, significant economic and energy loss, and degradation of human health (Mizon 2002). As most environmental pollutants, light pollution is also perceived as an outdoor threat, thus, Hollan (2009: 3) defined light pollution as “the alteration of light levels in the outdoor environment (from those present naturally) due to man-made sources of light”. Furthermore, given the rapid development of artificial lighting technology for the indoor environment that can be harmful as well, Hollan (2009: 3) provided another definition of indoor light pollution perceived as “such alteration of light levels in the indoor environment due to sources of light, which compromises human he
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