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May 30, 2025: We are starved for stars, says outdoor writer Craig Childs

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Author Craig Childs reads from his new book at Mountain Words
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Colorado author Craig Childs reads from his new book, “The Wild Dark: Finding the Night Sky in the Age of Light,” at the Mountain Words literature festival in Crested Butte, May 23, 2025. He describes the night sky night sky as “not an absence of light; it is the presence of the universe.”

Eighty percent of the world's population can't see the Milky Way. Light pollution interferes. Author and adventurer Craig Childs, of Norwood, Colorado, writes about a trek from light to dark in his new book. "The Wild Dark" takes readers from the incandescence of Las Vegas to the spangled skies of rural Nevada. Childs spoke with Sr. Host Ryan Warner at this month's Mountain Words Festival in Crested Butte.

Two people laying on the ground
Courtesy: Manuel Aragon/Mountain Words Festival
As the sun set in Crested Butte, author Craig Childs gazed up at the heavens with Colorado Matters Senior Host Ryan Warner.