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Rational Lighting Policy in Practice

Project Promoter: Stowarzyszenie POLARIS - OPP
Proposal: 1st thematic call
Co-financed from the program: 115 080,00 EUR
Partners:
Gmina Jeleśnia (Poland)
Bevar mørket (Norway)
Društvo Temno nebo (Slovenia)
About Aneta Jeżyna-Becela & Agnieszka Ostrowska-Gołąb Sp. J. (Poland)
Duration time: 01.10.2021-30.09.2023

In 2011 the first dark-sky protection area in Poland was created in Sopotnia Wielka, which was implemented as a social initiative. The joint investment of the local government unit and an NGO was financed thanks to the grant received by the Jeleśnia Municipality for replacing over 180 street lamps in the public lighting system with ones that protect against light pollution. Unfortunately, the initiative from 2011 is currently insufficient due to the increasing expansion of artificial (LED) light, installed mainly in households. As part of the ‘Dark Sky Poland’ and ‘Dark Sky Community’ projects implemented in 2019-2021, a survey was conducted in which 33 questionnaires were collected from local households. 27 people expressed interest in being engaged in reducing light pollution in their own households, 4 were neutral and only 2 responded negatively. The results of the survey show that there is a need to reach out to those who are potentially uninterested or dissatisfied (i.e., about 18% of the residents of the village) in order to forge a consensus, as well as to raise awareness about the problem of light pollution. The aim of the ‘Rational Lighting Policy in Practice’ project is to maintain and support the grassroots idea of Sopotnia Wielka residents, by the working name of ‘rational lighting policy’.Using the method of citizen participation, we would like to make an attempt at drafting the first resolution regarding the night landscape in Poland. For this purpose, we will form an international scientific committee, conduct workshops and initiate a council for social dialogue on the ecology of the night. The project will result in consolidation of different social groups, maintenance of partnerships, improvement of night environment protection through an innovative activity, and increased direct engagement of nearly 500 people and 150 households. The project is implemented in the framework of trilateral cooperation of partners from Poland, Norway and Slovenia.