Laura: FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS THROUGHOUT OUR EVOLUTION AS A SPECIES, WE HAVE LOOKED TO THE SAME NIGHT SKY.

WE'VE TOLD STORIES, NAVIGATED, WONDERED WHAT LIES BEYOND OUR OWN BEAUTIFUL EARTH.

THAT SKY BELONGED TO ALL OF US, NOT JUST A FEW.

Kelly: SPACE IS SO BIG.

A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY THAT IT MAKES THEM FEEL INSIGNIFICANT.

WE ARE VERY TINY IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, BUT BEING ABLE TO LOOK OUT AND SEE SOME OF THESE THINGS THAT ARE SO FAR AWAY, SO BIG, THE SCALE OF THIS IS SO UNIMAGINABLE, AND YET WE ARE ABLE TO TAKE PART IN THAT.

WE ARE PART OF THAT.

AND SO IN ONE SENSE, YOU FEEL SMALL, AND IN ANOTHER SENSE, YOU FEEL BIG.

AND IT'S JUST KIND OF MAGIC.

Laura: TODAY WE CELEBRATE DARK PLACES.

CALL THEM DARK SKY PARKS.

AND THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HOLDS STAR PARTIES, TREATING THE NIGHT SKY WITH THE SAME REVERENCE AS DEEP CANYONS OR REMOTE MOUNTAINTOPS.

Bernard: WE CAN LOOK AT THE RING NEBULA, AND THE RING NEBULA IS EXACTLY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE.

IT'S A RING FLOATING IN THE SKY.

IT'S ALMOST A PERFECT RING.

AND WHAT IT IS, IS IT'S A DYING STAR.

THE SAY THAT I DISCOVERED THE THINGS THAT I COULD SEE THROUGH AN AMATEUR TELESCOPE IS A DAY THAT I'LL REMEMBER UNTIL THE DAY I DIE.

I SAW OBJECTS THAT LOOKED LIKE DIAMONDS SCATTERED ON VELVET, I SAW CLOUDS, AND I SAW GALAXIES.

I SAW GALAXIES THAT WERE 300 OR 400 MILLION LIGHT YEARS AWAY.

AND THE IDEA OF THEN SHOWING THAT TO SOMEBODY AND SAYING, THE LIGHT FROM THIS GALAXY LEFT THAT GALAXY LONG BEFORE DINOSAURS EVEN WALKED THE EARTH, AND SEEING THEIR FACES JUST GO, WHOA, THAT'S AS COOL AS IT GETS.

YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT.

Laura: ISABEL AND RICK FROM BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS, STOPPED AT THE CAPULIN STAR PARTY WHILE ON VACATION.

Rick: WE'RE ALL STARDUST.

WE'RE ALL STARDUST, WE'RE ALL PART OF THE UNIVERSE, YOU KNOW.

SO IT'S JUST SOMETHING THAT YOU GAZE UPON ON A DAILY BASIS, IF YOU'RE OUT, AND YOU WONDER, YOU KNOW.

Isabel: IT'S JUST BEAUTIFUL AT NIGHT.

Laura: BUT OVER THE PAST CENTURY, WE'VE STEADILY CHANGED OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SKY.

IN HIS NOVEL "CONTACT," CARL SAGAN WROTE ABOUT COSMIC ISOLATIONISM, OF HOW WITHOUT EVEN NOTICING MOST PEOPLE CUT THEMSELVES OFF FROM THE SKY.

WE LEARNED MORE ABOUT WHAT LIES BEYOND OUR OWN WORLD.

WE'VE LOOKED DEEPER INTO SPACE.

BUT OUR OWN SKY VIEW, WE LIT IT UP, CONCEALED SO MUCH OF WHAT WE USED TO SEE.

Finn: ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE LOSE IN TERMS OF OUR CHILDREN, PARTICULARLY, IS WE ARE LIMITING THE SCOPE OF THEIR IMAGINATION AND THEIR CURIOSITY, AND THAT HAS, OF COURSE, TREMENDOUS REPERCUSSIONS FOR THE FUTURE.

WE LOSE THE APPRECIATION THAT WE PERSONALLY GET FROM LOOKING AT THE SKY.

IF THE SKY IS NOTHING BUT A GLOW ABOVE YOU FROM THE STREETLIGHTS, THEN THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE, AND THERE'S NOTHING TO APPRECIATE.

Laura: FINN SAYS THERE ARE SIMPLE WAYS TO FIGHT LIGHT POLLUTION.

TURN OFF OUTSIDE LIGHTS.

LIGHT CITIES MORE RESPONSIBLY.

EVEN CLOSE YOUR CURTAINS AT NIGHT.

Finn: ONE OF THE NICE THINGS ABOUT LIGHT POLLUTION IS THAT IT DOESN'T DESTROY THE NIGHT, IT JUST HIDES IT.

SO YOU CAN GET THE LIGHT BACK, LIKE THAT, IF YOU JUST TURN OFF THE LIGHTS.

THERE ARE NOT A LOT OF ENVIRONMENTAL THINGS WHERE THE SOLUTION IS SO EASY.

Laura: CARL SAGAN WROTE ABOUT HOW AT THE VERY MOMENT THAT HUMANS DISCOVERED THE SCALE OF THE UNIVERSE AND FOUND THAT OUR MOST UNCONSTRAINED FANTASIES WERE, IN FACT, DWARFED BY THE TRUE DIMENSIONS OF EVEN THE MILKY WAY GALAXY, WE TOOK STEPS THAT ENSURED THAT OUR DESCENDANTS WOULD BE UNABLE TO SEE THE STARS AT ALL.

BUT WE CAN CHANGE THAT.

WE CAN PROTECT THE SKIES ALL OF OUR ANCESTORS WATCHED.

WE CAN TURN OUT THE LIGHTS AND LOOK UP AND WONDER TOGETHER.

FOR NEW MEXICO InFOCUS AND OUR LAND, I'M LAURA PASKUS.