Author Paul Bogard discusses "The End of Night" at RU

Photo of Paul Bogard

Paul Bogard is an author and professor of English at James Madison University.

Author and educator Dr. Paul Bogard will visit Radford University to read from his new book, “The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light.”

The program, sponsored by the RU Scholar-Citizen Initiative, is free and open to the public. It will take place in Hurlburt Student Center 248 on Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m.

The book chronicles Bogard’s quest to find natural darkness, a task complicated by the preponderance of light pollution that covers many parts of the world.  According to Bogard, a professor of English at James Madison University, light pollution wastes money and energy and can harm human health and natural ecosystems.

“Astronomers say that 99 percent of the people living in the continental United States or western Europe no longer experience a truly dark night,” Bogard said. Many people can count the stars they see on a few hands, but on a truly dark night there should be around 2500 stars in view.

The Scholar-Citizen program supports Radford University’s institutional mission of fostering the development of “mature, responsible citizens” by preparing students to put their intellectual skills to work for the public good. Through integration of classroom and co-curricular learning opportunities, Scholar-Citizen experiences attend to the whole student, helping them develop records of achievement in the areas of public service, leadership, and applied research.

Oct 14, 2013
Dan Waidelich
(540) 831-7749
dwaidelich@radford.edu