Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
When was the last time you saw the stars? Think about it. Try to really recall the last time you saw a constellation like the Big Dipper, or spotted the North Star on the horizon.
If you live in a rural part of the country, there’s a good chance you’ve seen them as recently as last night. However, if you’re one of the nearly 40 percent of Americans who live in a city, you might not have seen them last night or the night before. If you live in a large city like New York or Los Angeles, there’s a good chance you don’t even remember the last time you saw the stars.
While it might not seem like much, our ability to see the stars at night is actually a pretty good indicator of not only the overall health of a city, but also its surrounding ecosystem. And the visibility of the night sky lets researchers know about other pernicious and potentially devastating issues within communities that are largely unseen but can result in the deteriorating health and increasing disparity for society at large.