Palo Alto Dark Skies - rescheduled for December

Bring Back the Stars: Please Support Palo Alto’s Dark Sky Ordinance!

What is happening

On Monday, December 8th, the Palo Alto City Council will consider adopting a Dark Sky (Outdoor Lighting) Ordinance. This ordinance would reduce light pollution to protect migrating birds, nocturnal wildlife, and human health, while saving energy and restoring our view of the stars. It follows best practices to ensure that light is used when it is needed, where it is needed, and no more than is needed—without compromising safety or commerce.

Why is it important

Artificial light at night disrupts ecosystems at every level, throwing off hormones, sleep cycles, and the timing of natural behaviors. It interferes with bird migration and increases deadly collisions, draws insects to lights where they die in large numbers, and affects human health by disturbing sleep, mood, and hormone regulation, with links to cardiovascular disease and cancer. Excessive glare can even reduce nighttime safety by impairing contrast and vision.

For countless generations, people have looked up at the stars. Today, most children can’t see the Milky Way. It’s time to restore our sense of wonder.

What You Can Do

Email the City Council TODAY

To: City.Council@PaloAlto.gov
Subject: 12/8/25 Agenda Item 15: We need a strong outdoor lighting ordinance

Talking Points (as are relevant to you!):

• Say a few words about who you are and why you care.

• Share any experience with nuisance light affecting your home or neighborhood.

• Ask the Council to adopt a strong ordinance to protect birds, people, and our night sky

Speak at the Council meeting (in person or zoom). A brief 1–2 minute comment can be very effective! We expect this item (#15) to be discussed after 8:30 PM.

Cede your time to our advocates by being present at the meeting (in person or zoom). Please email advocate@scvbirdalliance.org.

All living beings deserve nights free from unnecessary light. Together, we can protect birds, insects, and people - and let the night sky shine again over Palo Alto.

December Action Alerts - Sunnyvale, Mountain View, San Jose, & Palo Alto

Least Sandpiper: John Tsortos

SURVEY: Mountain View Dark Sky (respond by Dec. 10)

The City of Mountain View is developing a Dark Sky Ordinance. This effort follows years of community engagement and advocacy by SCVBA and other environmental groups, including the GreenSpacesMV and the Sierra Club. A well designed ordinance should adhere to the International Dark Sky  Five Principles of Responsible Outdoor Lighting and:

• Protect wildlife and habitat throughout the city.

• Improve human health and wellbeing

• Reduce light pollution and restore the visibility of the night sky and the stars

The City has issued an Online Survey - English, Spanish, Chinese). Please respond to the survey (it only takes 5 minutes, and you do not have to respond to every question)? Consider highlighting the importance to nature and to our health and well being. Also, at the very least, it is critically important to apply this ordinance to new construction, remodels, and voluntary replacement of lighting fixtures.

SURVEY: Access to levees in Sunnyvale

It is not too late to respond to the Sunnyvale Survey of Recreational (birding!) use of the Sunnyvale Baylands. The City of Sunnyvale is seeking public input to better understand how the Water Pollution Control Plant Treatment Ponds Interior Levee trails (see map) are used and what impacts a potential closure may have on the community. It takes 3 minutes to complete the survey.

• Please consider expressing support for closing some interior levees to reduce disturbance to wildlife, but the plan needs refinement, including:

• Keeping the east levee between Oxidation Ponds 1 & 2 open, because it is the only reasonable connector and has a parallel levee that provides the same wildlife benefits

• Maintain access to the Moffett Channel for bird monitoring and eBird data collection, which is essential for tracking wildlife health.

• Seasonal or foot-only access, better signage, and docent programs can protect wildlife without eliminating key observation routes.

Palo Alto update to the lighting ordinance to December 8th

The City Council has delayed the discussion of the update to the lighting ordinance to December 8th. This ordinance would set important limits on outdoor lighting to protect migrating birds, nocturnal wildlife, and human health, while saving energy and restoring our view of the stars. The ordinance follows best practices from the International Dark-Sky Association ensuring that outdoor lighting is used only where and when it’s needed without compromising safety or commerce. See our letter of recommendation to the council, and please watch for our Action Alert in the beginning of December. 

San Jose is designing a Stormwater Capture Project near Kelly park. 

A community meeting will be held Wednesday December 3 at 6pm, at the RF Kennedy Elementary School (1602 Lucretia Ave, San Jose). Please consider attending to advocate for native plants and pollinator gardens.

Bring Back the Stars: Please Support Palo Alto’s Dark Sky Ordinance!

Bring Back the Stars: Please Support Palo Alto’s Dark Sky Ordinance!

What is happening

On Monday, November 10, the Palo Alto City Council will consider adopting a Dark Sky (Outdoor Lighting) Ordinance.

This ordinance would set important limits on outdoor lighting to protect migrating birds, nocturnal wildlife, and human health, while saving energy and restoring our view of the stars.
It follows best practices from the International Dark-Sky Association and the Illuminating Engineering Society, ensuring that outdoor lighting is shielded, controlled, and used only where and when it’s needed without compromising safety or commerce.

Why is it important

Light Pollution Harms Birds, Insects, and Ecosystems

Artificial light at night affects every level of food webs and ecosystems.

• Birds: Many species migrate at night, guided by the moon and stars. Bright, unshielded lighting disorients them, drawing birds into urban areas where collisions with glass and illuminated structures are often fatal.

• Insects: Insects are irresistibly drawn to lights, where they circle until they die from exhaustion or are taken by predators. Because insects are vital prey for birds, bats, and other wildlife, insect declines ripple up the food web.

By controlling outdoor lighting Palo Alto can reduce bird collisions and insect mortality, restoring healthier ecosystems along the Pacific Flyway.

Light Pollution Harms People, Too

Artificial light at night disrupts sleep, mood, and hormone balance, and has been linked to insomnia, depression, metabolic disease, and cancer risks. Glare from over-lighting can even make streets less safe by reducing contrast and night vision.

For thousands of years, people have looked up at the stars for meaning and inspiration. Today, most children never see the Milky Way, even as they sing “Twinkle, twinkle, little star.”

Restoring natural darkness restores our health and our sense of wonder.

What You Can Do

Email the City Council TODAY

Urge Mayor Lauing and the Council to adopt a strong, science-based Dark Sky Ordinance.

To: City.Council@PaloAlto.gov
Subject: 11/10/25 Agenda Item 8: Please adopt a strong outdoor lighting ordinance

Body (suggested points):

• Say a few words about who you are and why you care.

• Share any experience with nuisance light affecting your home or neighborhood.

• Ask the Council to adopt a strong ordinance to protect birds, people, and our night sky.

Speak at the Council Meeting or Cede Your Time to our Advocates

Give a brief public comment or cede your time to SCVBA advocates at the City Council meeting on November 10 (likely after 10 PM).

Zoom: https://cityofpaloalto.zoom.us/j/362027238

If you can cede time, please email Shani at advocate@scvbirdalliance.org.

All living beings deserve nights free from unnecessary light. Together, we can protect birds, insects, and people—and let the night sky shine again over Palo Alto.

Thank you,

Stop the Rollback on Rodenticide Protections

Barn Owls (by Teresa Cheng) are often the unintended victims of rodenticides.

What is Happening?

On September 24, 2025, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) held a hearing on new rules for anticoagulant rodenticides, the powerful rat poisons we fought to limit through recent state laws.

However, instead of strengthening protections, DPR is proposing a major rollback. Their plan would allow these poisons to be used for more than 100 days each year, reopening the door to widespread contamination. This goes against California’s commitment to protect wildlife, pets, and even children from these harmful chemicals.

Why Does This Matters?

Anticoagulant rodenticides are indiscriminate, bioaccumulative poisons. They don’t only kill rats, they poison owls, hawks, bobcats, foxes, coyotes, and domestic pets, causing internal bleeding and long-term illness or death. In California, these poisons have been documented in coyotes, foxes, owls and hawks and many other raptors and carnivores that naturally control rodent populations.

California has already passed three critical wildlife protection laws between 2020–2023: 

• AB 1788 – First statewide restrictions on second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides,

• AB 2552 (Poison-Free Wildlife Act) – Strengthened protections and mandated safer practices, and

• AB 1322 – Closed loopholes and updated labeling & enforcement.

DPR’s proposal undermines these laws by reopening pathways for routine, widespread poison use, without emergency justification.

What You Can Do? Send a Comment by November 8

Here is the form for the comment: https://cdpr.commentinput.com/?id=JsSRaG6NA

Tell DPR that

• No anticoagulant rodenticides should be allowed, except during a declared public health or environmental emergency (current law),
  

• No rollback of AB 1788, AB 2552, or AB 1322 is acceptable, and
  

• California must invest in ecological rodent control to protect raptors and predators, not more poison.

Talking Points to Include

• Anticoagulants are toxic and non-selective, killing the very wildlife that naturally controls rodents.
  

• DPR is legally obligated to protect wildlife, not poison it.
  

• Allowing >100 days of poison use ensures continued contamination of predators, pets, and ecosystems.
  

• Californians have already demanded poison-free solutions, so DPR must honor the law.
  

Thank you for raising your voice for owls, hawks, foxes, and all wildlife. Public pressure stopped these poisons before, and can do it again.