city centres, shopping centres, or stadiums. It consists of light that is either emitted directly upward or reflected from the ground that is then scattered by dust and gas molecules in the atmosphere, producing a luminous background or light dome. These artificial skyglows cause the sky to be 5–10 times brighter in urban areas than a naturally dark sky that is unaffected by artificial light. Natural skyglow can come from natural light sources, such as the Sun, the Moon, the stars, or auroras. Some communities are becoming aware of this problem and are putting forth efforts to minimize the hazy, orange skyglow. A community in particular is the city of Merritt, British Columbia. An article published July 8, 2010 states that they are making minor changes to lighting in and around Merritt, such as the installment of down-cast lighting to commercial buildings, as part of their light pollution abatement program. The benefits of this technological change include "saving energy through better focused lights, preserving the environment by reducing excess light that may affect flora and fauna, reducing crime and increasing safety by more adequately illuminating areas, and reducing health risks." Scotobiology Scotobiology is the study of the role darkness plays in living organisms and shows that interrupting darkness by light pollution creates drastic effects for most organisms; changing their food gathering and feeding habits, their mating and reproduction behavior, migration behaviour (birds and insects) and social behavior. Approximately 30% of vertebrates and 60% of invertebrates are nocturnal, meaning that they depend on darkness. Their everyday behaviors are biologically evolved to adapt in uninterrupted darkness. Human health is also adversely affected by the effects of light pollution. Light during night time hours has been linked to human cancers and psychological disorders. Dark-sky preserves Dark-sky preserves are the main contributors to the dark-sky movement. They are protected areas found mostly in national parks that have a zero light pollution policy set in by the government and controlled by the National Dark Sky Association. As of February 6, 2012, there were 35 formally recognized dark-sky preserves in the world with Canada in the lead containing 15 preserves. These preserves are located in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. Other countries that have dark-sky preserves are the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States. A current list of designated parks is maintained by the