Over 50 people gathered at a Dark Skies Connections event on Wednesday night, which also marked the first day of International Space Week [October 4-10].
The purpose of the evening was to provide an opportunity for tourism operators to connect with other businesspeople in Wairarapa and beyond who have a keen focus on the region’s Dark Sky Reserve status and astro-tourism.
Co-organised by Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve [WDSR] and Destination Wairarapa, the speed-dating style event also aimed to build relationships between tourism businesses and conservation agencies.
Destination Wairarapa product development manager Chrissy Cummings, said the idea for a speed dating event was to make things “fast, fun and pacy”.
“It’s clear there were connections made, and ideas discussed which may not have otherwise been progressed at pace,” she said.
Cummings said collaboration between businesses will be a major driver of growth in the region, especially with further development in the astro-tourism space.
Many of the tourism operators who spoke with Times-Age said winter is often one of the tougher seasons for attracting visitors to the region – something astro-tourism will hopefully reverse, given that winter is the best time of year to observe the night sky.
Among those attending was Graeme Murray, who was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit [MNZM] in 2015 for his services to tourism and conservation.
Murray was partly responsible for the successful initiative to have part of the Aoraki Mackenzie region formally recognised as a Gold Status International Dark Sky Reserve in 2012 – protecting the area’s unique location for observing the stars, free from light pollution.
Dark Sky status is an achievement to be cherished and protected, Murray said, before noting that Aotearoa New Zealand was probably one of the only countries to have been discovered as a result of navigating by the stars.
Dark Sky coordinator Charlotte Harding said the event was also a chance to educate about the impacts of light pollution.
WDSR committee member Tom Love observed that over 80 per cent of the world’s population live under light-polluted skies, while astronomers globally are facing challenges presented by the proliferation of satellites orbiting Earth.
Love said each satellite is a source of light pollution, and the launch of thousands of satellites into our atmosphere [as planned by businesses such as Elon Musk’s Starlink] may eventually make it impossible to see the night sky without some sort of satellite in the field of view.
Other environmental factors to consider include physical pollution in the atmosphere and the carbon emissions from launching rockets, he said.
Love also noted that Wellington City represents a terrestrial threat to Wairarapa’s Dark Sky Reserve, in that its light pollution is visible in parts of South Wairarapa and it is important we don’t let it get any worse.
I don’t think we live in dark ages we developed for the best of reasons LIFE. The human population expanded great 👍 otherwise we would not be here. You can’t have your plate and eat it as well.