COMMUNITY groups, residents, businesses and Cumbria Highways are taking part in the first ‘Big Switch Off’ in Ambleside on next Saturday.

The lighting switch off, from 9.30pm onwards, aims to raise awareness about the value of dark skies for people’s enjoyment and health, for wildlife to flourish, and the need to tackle climate change by reducing energy consumption.

The event is being coordinated by Ambleside Action For A Future (AAFAF) and the Dark Skies Cumbria Project, and takes place during International Dark Skies Week.

Gillian Kelly, AAFAF Coordinator, said: “We are privileged to live in a beautiful area and we know we must reduce our carbon footprint as individuals and as a community. Electricity consumption is rising rapidly, switching to renewables is vital and low energy LEDs are now the norm. We must also look to reduce the wasteful use of energy and ask ourselves, do we really need so many lights on all through the night?

“Unlike some environmental problems, such as plastics in our lakes and oceans which will take decades to clear up, we can switch off lights in an instant. Working with Friends of the Lake District’s Dark Skies Project Officer Jack Ellerby, we are also asking people to use well shielded lights so the beam shines downwards and not up into the night sky. The Big Switch Off will hopefully also encourage home and business owners to install timers so their lights go off overnight when they are not needed, or open for business.”

For more information about Friends of the Lake District’s Dark Skies Cumbria Project, visit the website at: www.darkskiescumbria.org.uk