Lighting is an important aspect to Broward County’s residents and visitors for safety, security, livability, and enjoyment. The inappropriate or excessive use of artificial light, commonly referred to as light pollution, can have serious environmental consequences for humans, wildlife, and the climate. 

In 2015, Broward’s Environmental Planning and Community Resilience Division began educating the public on light pollution and create spaces to dialogue with local planners, architects, recreation managers, and others on the benefits of reducing excessive or misplaced light. In 2016, Light at Night was included in the Broward County Green Infrastructure Map Series. 

Night-Friendly Lighting policies are now incorporated into the Broward County Climate Action Plan (Action #11), Land Use Plan (POLICY 3.6.8), and Comprehensive Plan (POLICY CC2.6). On January 29, 2019, the Broward County Board of Commissioners adopted Sec. 39-112. - Outdoor lighting into the Code of Ordinances. These policies promote use of light only where needed - thereby limiting excess light, discourage light trespassing, and reducing glare to create a safe and pedestrian scaled lit environment. 

A Sky Quality Monitoring Program has been launched to assess Broward County’s night sky quality and measure progress in reducing light pollution over time. The County has Sky Quality Meters (SQM) at parks, libraries, and other county-owned facilities throughout the community. Interactive database coming soon! 

The Globe at Night program is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure their night sky brightness and submit their observations from a computer or smart phone. In this project, you will go outside and compare how many stars you can see in a constellation, to how many stars you should be able to see. Or you can use a Sky Quality Meter (SQM), which quantitatively measures the brightness of the night sky. Broward County has 2 hand-held SQMs available for loan. Request to borrow a meter by emailing resilience@broward.org.