{"id":3546,"date":"2026-08-28T06:57:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T06:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/?post_type=podcast&#038;p=3546"},"modified":"2026-08-29T20:45:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T20:45:37","slug":"sara-pritchard-transforming-night","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast\/sara-pritchard-transforming-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Sara Pritchard &#8211; Transforming Night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sara Pritchard, Professor of science and technology studies at Cornell University (USA), discussed her book <em><a href=\"https:\/\/uwapress.uw.edu\/book\/9780295755267\/transforming-night\/\">Transforming Night: The History and Science of Light Pollution<\/a><\/em> (University of Washington Press, 2026) in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series with hosts Dolly J\u00f8rgensen and Finn Arne J\u00f8rgensen on Monday, 24 August 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Darkness has become legible\u2014and contested. Blending archival narrative with on-the-ground ethnography, Sara B. Pritchard traces how four fields\u2014astronomy, remote sensing, conservation science, and ecology\u2014have investigated artificial light at night, turning a ubiquitous convenience into a category of harm. From observatories chasing ever-receding darkness to the satellite images that first rendered a nocturnal planet from space and recent \u201cBlack Marble\u201d maps, Pritchard shows how methods, instruments, and field sites shape what scientists can know about night and light\u2014and what remains unseen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Across these encounters, night emerges not as a backdrop but as an environment in its own right\u2014one transformed by rapidly expanding, brightening illumination in the Anthropocene.&nbsp;<em>Transforming Night<\/em>&nbsp;chronicles the ascent of \u201clight pollution,\u201d as well as the new challenge of space-based brightness from satellite constellations, even as dark-sky advocates fight to preserve the starry firmament. Attentive to politics as much as photons, Pritchard brings environmental justice to the fore\u2014highlighting tensions among light poverty, forced illumination, and surveillance and calls for \u201cbeneficial darkness.\u201d She takes seriously Indigenous astronomers\u2019 critiques of dispossession and \u201castro-colonialism,\u201d asking what it means to site world-class telescopes on sacred land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sweeping from local parks to planetary vistas,&nbsp;<em>Transforming Night<\/em>&nbsp;reframes a familiar story of modern light as a history of changing nights\u2014past, present, and possible. It will engage readers in environmental history and humanities, science and technology studies, and the sciences themselves, along with dark-sky activists and anyone drawn to the beauty and politics of the world after nightfall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sara Pritchard, Professor of science and technology studies at Cornell University (USA), discussed her book Transforming Night: The History and Science of Light Pollution (University [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026-08-24-Pritchard.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2026-08-24-Pritchard-1-e1787899826463.jpg","cover_image_id":"3480","duration":"57:05","filesize":"41.32M","filesize_raw":"43331803","date_recorded":"2026-08-24 16:00:00","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"11","itunes_title":"Sara Pritchard - Transforming Night","itunes_season_number":"7","itunes_episode_type":"full"},"tags":[17,18,42,41],"series":[16],"class_list":["post-3546","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","hentry","tag-books","tag-environment","tag-history","tag-history-of-science","series-greenhouse-environmental-humanities-book-talks"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2026-08-24-Pritchard-1-e1787899826463.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast-download\/3546\/sara-pritchard-transforming-night","player_link":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast-player\/3546\/sara-pritchard-transforming-night","audio_player":"<a class=\"wp-embedded-audio\" href=\"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast-player\/3546\/sara-pritchard-transforming-night\">https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast-player\/3546\/sara-pritchard-transforming-night<\/a>","episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/greenhouse-environmental-humanities-book-talks\/id1664960759","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/feed\/podcast\/greenhouse-environmental-humanities-book-talks\/","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0TNTSCl3zRBues4Eqjkwwm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/feed\/podcast\/greenhouse-environmental-humanities-book-talks","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"H5B0878aYp\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast\/sara-pritchard-transforming-night\/\">Sara Pritchard &#8211; Transforming Night<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast\/sara-pritchard-transforming-night\/embed\/#?secret=H5B0878aYp\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Sara Pritchard &#8211; Transforming Night&#8221; &#8212; The Greenhouse Book Talks\" data-secret=\"H5B0878aYp\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! 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