Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in Path Finders, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each week, Path Finders features a Q&A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Like what you see here? You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week.
Leigh Ann Henion is the New York Times bestselling author of Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark. An experience with synchronous fireflies inspired her immersive journey into the nocturnal world. Night Magic shares about the creatures that thrive in the dark – moths, salamanders, bats – and Henion’s journey towards embracing it. Enjoy our conversation about nighttime wonders and what we stand to lose as light eclipses the dark.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
The Daily Yonder: A lot of modern Americans grow up afraid of the dark rather than curious about it. Why did you decide to venture into it and what did you discover?
Leigh Ann Henion: A few years ago, I attended the synchronous firefly event in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a magazine assignment. I was awed by the fireflies, but I was also amazed to realize how rarely I’d been in the dark without a flashlight or my cell phone illuminated. I spend a lot of my waking life on screens, and I found that spending time in the dark was a restorative experience. I also learned a lot about how light pollution harms fireflies, and it got me curious about how it alters life cycles for other creatures.
After that firefly story ran, a lot of readers told me that I’d inspired them to turn off their porch lights more often, and I was amazed that a story had the power to change people’s habits. In the end, working on this project changed the way I use artificial light in my own life. At root, Night Magic is the story of my personal quest to appreciate natural darkness in an age of increasing artificial light.
DY: One of the things I loved about the book was how night explorations helped you see your own neighborhood in a new light, so to speak. What were some of the wondrous things you discovered in your own backyard?
LAH: I chose to focus on my home region of Appalachia because, as I say in the book, I think we’re in need of models of how to find wonder on our own patch of planet. This is a place I thought I knew well, but I came to realize that I only know half of it: the daylit half.
I traveled throughout the region for fieldwork – attending events like a Bat Blitz in Alabama and a moth-loving festival called Mothapalooza in Ohio – but I periodically ended up engaging with surprising species in my own neighborhood. I hope readers of Night Magic will be inspired to explore their home region, wherever that might be, to have a similar sense of discovery.
One example of how things came full circle is that I’ve always been familiar with Woolly Worms or Woolly Bears in caterpillar form. But a Woolly Worm ultimately transforms into an Isabella Tiger Moth and, even though I’ve interacted with Woolly Worms for my entire life, I’d never seen an Isabella Tiger until I set out to explore night as new territory. It’s thrilling to recognize your own yard as an underexplored landscape. If you’ve never set out to know it after sunset, that’s exactly what awaits you.
DY: For readers who are inspired by your story, what advice can you give for entering into a relationship with night and its creatures?
LAH: I’ve come to understand that you don’t have to go far to experience night as a place of unexpected wonders. If you’ve never pulled up a chair in the darkest part of your yard to listen and watch for what might be revealed, I’m confident that, if you do, you’ll discover something surprising. State and local parks seem to be responding to public interest in night exploration, so you might want to see if there’s an upcoming owl prowl or bat appreciation night in your area. If you can’t find any programs like that, you can contact local parks or nonprofits to suggest that engaging people with nature at night might be of interest. I’m hopeful that, in reading the book, people can have a vicarious experience that will inspire adventures that I cannot even imagine. From coastal environments to deserts to forests, there are diverse and very cool things to be discovered in the dark wherever you live.
DY: You wrote that as you have embraced natural dark, you have had to simultaneously grieve it. What are we losing as artificial light replaces natural darkness?
LAH: Light pollution is increasing at exponential rates. Exposure to artificial light at night has been linked to human health issues from cancer to mood disorders, and it’s disruptive to pretty much every lifeform on the planet. Even so, it’s an environmental issue that can be addressed immediately with the flick of a switch, but most of our cultural stories teach us to fear darkness. It’s presented as something to banish.
I’ve tried to make Night Magic a dark-positive story. We need more of those. I don’t think readers reached out to me after I published that original firefly story because I shared the dangers of light pollution, though there are many. I think they reached out because I introduced the idea that if we don’t turn down the lights, we’re going to miss out on something extraordinary. That’s a countercultural notion in a culture that presents light as knowledge and darkness as ignorance. I attempted to focus not on what light pollution takes away, but rather on what darkness stands to offer. I think the idea of darkness as being worth preserving is almost a shocking one given the cultural narrative, and I think it’s one that we, as a species, need to take seriously.
DY: How can rural landowners play a part in honoring and preserving the night?
LAH: Light pollution was long thought of as an urban issue, but recent studies have shown that rural areas are increasingly at risk. Still, if you look at a light pollution map, rural areas are often blessedly dark compared to other areas. DarkSky International has some great resources on types of light fixtures that are helpful in reducing light trespass. The type of bulbs you use also plays a role. Warm-tone bulbs are much less disruptive to wildlife and human physiology than blue-spectrum bulbs, so that’s something to consider.
Years ago, electricity was a luxury. Now, darkness is turning into a luxury experience. I think conversations about how darkness is worth preserving, and that rural areas often have relative darkness that might be lost if we don’t start paying attention, are worth having. When you start appreciating darkness, I think there’s natural interest in reducing artificial light, so seeking out and sharing opportunities like night hikes and activities that foster awareness can be impactful. We often associate sunlight with growth, but darkness is required for life on Earth to thrive, and rural communities are in a unique position to protect this dwindling form of wilderness.
This interview first appeared in Path Finders, a weekly email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each Monday, Path Finders features a Q&A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Join the mailing list today, to have these illuminating conversations delivered straight to your inbox.
Subscribe
The post Q&A: The Unexplored Wilderness in Our Own Backyards appeared first on The Daily Yonder.
