Dear Friends and Colleagues,
We are pleased to share our session Call for Papers for the Royal Geographical Society-IBG Conference in London from Tuesday 27 to Friday 30 August 2024:
Title: The Dark Matters: Mapping Human and Non-Human Interactions of Leisure and tourism Dark Sky Conservation
Session Organisers:
Dr Jenny Hall, York St John University, UK
Associate Professor, Dr Brendan Paddison, York St John University, UK
Mike Hawtin, Head of Nature Recovery, North York Moors National Park, UK
Sponsored by GLTRG (Geographies of Leisure and Tourism Research Group at RGS)
Session Abstract
The accelerated growth of light pollution has degraded the night-sky and is a slow catastrophe (Caitlin, 2022) that harms human health, wildlife, and ecological systems. 90% of citizens in the United States and Europe live under light-polluted skies, with only 1% of this light considered useful (Foott, 2022). Although there has been a growing global movement to ‘protect the night’ from light pollution and the importance of dark-sky conservation has proliferated (Dark-Sky International, 2023) through the global development of dark sky parks and reserves, our knowledge about the effectiveness of conservation interventions is limited. There is a lack of social, environmental, and cultural understanding about the impact of light pollution and dark skies conservation, with little attention paid to industry, community and visitors’ perceptions of dark sky reserves and the perceived barriers to access. Interdisciplinary research investigating the impact of tourist and leisure-based conservation activities in protected zones is beginning to emerge, but there is work to do (Dunn & Edensor, 2024). Raising awareness is crucial in addressing the pervasive nature of light pollution, the loss of our dark skies and its impact on our environment. This session aims to understand how leisure and tourism-based conservation initiatives and public engagement programmes can sustain dark-sky spaces and places.
We seek papers that explore:
- The impact of voluntary citizen science and public conservation initiatives in dark-sky places
- Mobilising volunteers and active stewardship in dark-sky places
- Stakeholder perceptions of dark-sky reserves and the perceived barriers to access
- Approaches to raising public awareness about light pollution, the loss of our dark-sky through tourism and leisure
- The impact of festivals and dark-sky leisure and tourism events
- Engaging communities in dark-sky activities
- Social, cultural, and economic understandings of dark sky conservation
- Social justice and accessing the dark-sky
- Methodological approaches to researching dark-sky communities and protected zones
- Politics and economic barriers
- Policy, governance, and planning in dark-sky protected zones
- Embodying dark-sky conservation
- Human and non-human interactions in dark-sky places
- Changing cultural perceptions of leisure and tourism of the nighttime
This is not an exhaustive list and we welcome creative and novel papers. Please send abstracts (250 words) to Jenny Hall ([log in to unmask]) & Brendan Paddison ([log in to unmask]). The deadline for submissions is Monday 26th February at midnight. The session is in person, but a hybrid option is available. Please indicate if you wish to present in person or virtually.
More information about the conference can be found via this link:
https://www.rgs.org/research/annual-international-conference?fbclid=IwAR1wPZYPvLiRJ5UmjuKTjkS9Kk92sRHrbIY1QcPVLXhayaVlWCMIqzDkqL4
References
Caitlin, J. (2022) Slow Catastrophe: A Concept for the Anthropocene. In J. Kowalewski (ed.) The Environmental Apocalypse: Interdisciplinary Reflections on the Climate Crisis. Routledge, pp. 51 – 68.
Dunn, N. & Edensor, T. (2024) Dark Skies: Places, Practices, Communities. Routledge.
Foott, B. (2022) Changing the world at the speed of light | Bettymaya Foott | TEDxKC. (2022, September 30). Available at: YouTube. https://youtu.be/D9bSsBINrdY?si=jWqP_I0Y2O10yZCO
DarkSky International. (2023) DarkSky International. https://darksky.org/.
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