Wilderness, wildlife and the dark night sky

Living in the sprawl,

dead shopping malls rise

like mountains beyond mountains

and there's no end in sight

I need the darkness,

someone please cut the lights.

— the Arcade Fire

An image has been circulating around the Facebook timelines of my Montana friends. It's a satellite photograph of North America at night, a deep navy blue blanketed with a spiderweb of pale yellow lights. The east coast is almost completely lit up — science fiction author William Gibson named this "The Sprawl, " a densely populated mass of human suburban development stretching from Boston to Atlanta. Moving west from th...