BS: Turn off those lights!

Subject: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Peg
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 12:39 PM

Well, those of us who enjoy looking at the night sky are already aware of the problem of light pollution ("The Simpsons" even devoted an episode to the issue recently!)...now scientists are saying that our eco-system is being harmed by it. You know the story, folks; first it fucks up the insects, then the birds, then reptiles, then the small mammals, then the larger ones, then finally us...

This is from National Geographic's website:

Light Pollution Taking Toll on Wildlife, Eco-Groups Say
Sharon Guynup
National Geographic Today
April 17, 2003


Turning off the lights saves energy—and it can help save wildlife as well.
Light pollution—the luminous orange glow that haloes cities and suburbs—threatens wildlife by disrupting biological rhythms and otherwise interfering with the behavior of nocturnal animals, new research shows. Now a movement is under way to turn off the lights, or at least turn them down, for the sake of all creatures that frequent the night.
"Wildlife species have evolved on this planet with biological rhythms—changing that has profound effects," said Travis Longcore, a biogeographer with the Urban Wildlands Group in Los Angeles, who with colleague Catherine Rich, co-organized a conference last year on "Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting."


        Birds At Risk
Artificial lighting seems to be taking the largest toll on bird populations. Nocturnal birds use the moon and stars for navigation during their bi-annual migrations.
"When they fly through a brightly-lit area, they become disoriented," said Michael Mesure, executive director of the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP), a Toronto-based environmental organization. The birds often crash into brilliantly-lit broadcast towers or buildings, or circle them until they drop from exhaustion.
"Over 450 bird species that migrate at night across North America are susceptible to collisions with night-lit towers, including threatened or endangered species like the cerulean warbler and Henslow's sparrow," Mesure said.
Sometimes whole flocks collide with over-lit structures. According to Mesure, over two consecutive nights in 1954, 50,000 birds died at Warner Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, when they followed lights straight into the ground. And in 1981, over 10,000 birds slammed into floodlit smokestacks at the Hydrox Generating Plant near Kingston, Ontario.
Seabirds are also at risk, said Bill Montevecchi, a marine ornithologist at Memorial University of Newfoundland, in St. John's, Canada.
Some, like the tiny Leach's storm petrel, feed offshore on bioluminescent plankton—so are particularly drawn to light. The birds may be fatally attracted to lighthouses, offshore drilling platforms, and the high-intensity lamps used by fishermen to lure squid to the surface.
"It's not that we wouldn't expect birds to die from human activities—but it is our responsibility to minimize that mortality," said Montevecchi.

(for the whole article, go to the National Geographic website at www.nationalgeographic.com)

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Peg
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 12:41 PM

Here is the clicky-ma-jig:

Light Pollution


I sent this to a bunch of friends and family; I think this is a VERY important problem, and with such a simple solution: flick the switch!


peg

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 12:54 PM

Switching off the street lights is a rather more difficult proposition.

This isn't a problem that can ever be solved individually. I can't see us doing it collectively either.

Seeing a real sky full of stars is an amazing experience after spending a lifetime in places where only a handful of the brightest stars get to make an appearance.

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 01:06 PM

I doubt that if we all turned off our house lights we'd have any measurable effect on the problem. I think we could be working towards eliminating non-essntial lighting such as the smokestacks and put them back on minimal white light with red warning beacons for aircraft or something. What ever it is, we'll still be limited to how much can be done. Most of this I would imagine comes from street lights. The average person is going to be hard to convince that we should turn most of them off and risk higher rates of rape and murder and risk safety in general because tree frogs and fireflies can't mate properly.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Peg
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 01:26 PM

Don't be so sure individuals can't make a difference. Have you seen the brightness of these security lights people have been installing on their homes??? Ridiculous. Expensive, wasteful, excessive.

I know the biggest source of light pollution in my neighborhood (I live in Boston, within the city proper) is the damn blasted bright security lights people have in their backyards! I live right near Franklin Park, a huge Olmsted Park. If these morons would tone down the wattage on their lights, one could go near the park at night and see a nice patch of stars...even seeing meteor showers and such. But people think it's somehow "safer" to have the brightest light available; when actually studies have proven that the brighter the light the more dangerous for inhabitants, because they can;t see to get their keys or to discover something out of place etc. because of the glare, which also hides people more effectively than when one's eyes adjust to normal night-vision...

Saying an indiviual can't make a difference in light pollution is like saying individuals picking up their own garbage isn't important, because it won't make a "dent" in global pollution...this attitude is part of the problem! If people turn off their lights or replace high-watt bulbs with lower watt ones, maybe their neighbors will ask why, and then education and awareness begins...no effort is too small or insignificant.

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 01:32 PM

They could also save on their electric bills which would save on production costs which could also help the environment.

I remember seeing a program a few years ago about streetlights needing to be redirected so that their light fell onto the ground NOT be pointed up into the sky. Some cities were making the change and it was specifically to stop light pollution so that one might see the stars and also have better lighting down on the ground where mere mortals walk.

Thanks, Peg, no security lights here but our neighbours shines right in my eyes at night so that I had to place a piece of material outside to block it yet still be able to open my window and get fresh air.

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: mg
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 01:48 PM

Cool...Bill Montevecchi is an old friend of mine..I'll have to look him up in the NG...

I'm of two minds..definitely want some light for security..when I take the bus in winter from Ilwaco it is dead dark and scary...but I am also against unnecessary lighting.

And I hate with a passion flourescent lights. There could be a place for them..a garage or hallway or basement..and I am not keeping up with the research on the new generation of flourescent lights..but the ones I still see are so horrible..and have bad bad health effects...new ones might not be as bad but I don't know.

and speaking of music, they drive me crazy when I am trying to enjoy an evening of music..the music camps I go to are cursed with them as well as cursed with people who won't turn them off...

well, I am in a rambling mood..they have these things called solar candles now..great idea..you leave them out, they soak up the sun, then you bring them inside..and of course there are lots of solar lights that people can get.

I do think it is our responsibility if we have any discretionary income at all to look at these energy alternatives and buy them...and get ourselves as much off the grid with solar and wind etc. as we can with small, home-size equipment without waiting for GE to invent this humongous wind machine...

mg

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 01:52 PM

I swear to you I am not being a smart-ass here and I do understand the problem, but those people who buy Security Lights do so for a reason (they think). Go out and call upon those with the lights and explain the situation and let me know how many have modified or eliminated their lights after 30 days.

On a plus side, a lot of smaller cities have gone back to the older style of lighting in an effort to make their burgs look more quaint and the new lights, which are still bright are more directed and a good bit softer in tone.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 01:56 PM

I tell ya... On a clear night... I can see so many stars, that I almost run out of fingers counting them... almost...

Mostly thanks to the fecking Windsor Casino, and the WW2 searchlights they have swinging around day and night...

It's enough to make a fellow stay inside...

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Peg
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 01:59 PM

Spaw; of course risking rape and murder is not acceptable; although in most cases the brightness of lights can be dimmed considerably and still be effective for safety purposes; and in fact, probably safer, for the reasons I gave above. But I see your point that people may not be willing to take what they deem to be unnecessary risks.

We SHOULD indeed be worried about the mating habits of frogs and the ability of migratory birds to get where they're going. As well as pilot whales beaching themselves and mantees choking on algae and coyotes eating garbage from cans. We are all in this together. We ARE having an effect on the eco-system and it IS harming us. Does anyone doubt that higher rates of certain cancers in urban areas or those within close distances of toxic waste sites are some strange coincidence? (If so, try telling it to the guys who went to my high school from 1980 onwards who have been diagnosed with testicular cancer at *25 TIMES the national rate*)

Animals are more sensitive to this stuff than we are; we would do well to observe what is happening to them so we can save ourselves. Rape and murder is scary, but physiological degradation of a species followed by wholesale extinction is a whole lot scarier.

Pesticides are a good example of this logic: they kill bugs instantly. They kill US, too, but it just takes a lot longer, because we're bigger. But pesticide residue has been linked to all sorts of carcinogenic and other pathological problems in humans: because they're everywhere. On our food, in our water, in the air, in the soil. Insects grow resistant to them within a couple of generations (for bugs that's a couple of years; think about it) and so manufacturers make stronger ones. And so on.

I'm not trying to sound alarmist here but these hazards are among the worst which face the human race and all other forms of life on this planet, and we seem to think of it as a small or individualized set of problems. People don't see the connection between the McDonald's wrappers they threw out of their car on the highway yesterday and the insidious destruction of our environment. It's happening cumulatively, one thoughtless action at a time. Multiplied by billions of people. I truly believe that the problems of bigotry and intolerance and greed and corruption are intimately connected to people's inability to grasp the idea that all living things share a common bond. Someone who can't pick up his own trash isn't going to be someone who jumps at the chance to help his neighbor, either.


"We did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it...and what we do to the web, we do to ourselves."

Chief Seattle

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Peg
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 02:04 PM

Ya know, I HAVE tried talking to people about the brightness and unsuitability of their lights; the attitude seems to be that they paid good money to install them, why should they adjust them again just because its fucking up everyone else's night vision?

It's not about the need/desire for safety through lighting; it's about the perceived need for the brightest lights available! Just like someone driving an SUV "needs" the hugest model on the market. Manufacturers make much about how their lights throw more light or greater intensity, etc. They simply aren't necessary and are apparently causing more problems than solving them.

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Mudlark
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 06:02 PM

Peg...Sometimes it seems like spitting in the wind, trying to get folks to acknowledge/understand the connection between us...and the whole rest of the world. This is particularly true of urban people, a larger and larger percent of the population, who are so disconnected from the real world that they perceive no connection...I overheard a well-dressed woman at the nursery just the other day saying, "Well, I don't care if it kills the birds, these bugs are eating my flowers!" Clearly she is unaware of the canary in the mine analogy.

But I do think it is worthwhile to keep harping on this subject. Silent Spring was written a long time ago and Rachel Carson left this world thinking she'd written it to no avail, yet awareness...slow as molasses in winter..has grown since then. And you never know when a scornful, scoffing disbeliever will put 2 and 2 together, maybe long after he remembers where the first 2 came from, and the penny will drop.

For instance, regarding light pollution, I've seen street lights with the top 3rd painted black, solar lighting is on the upswing...one small step from mankind. And recent studies have indicated that indoor light pollution is directly harmful to humans...nightlights may play a role in who gets cancer. Even humans need total darkness for healthy sleep it seems...not too surprising, evolutionarily speaking, since that's what we slept in until relatively recently.

Keep talking. Until the regular run of human beings feel personally threatened, they are not likely to change. But passionate, well-reasoned input like yours can make a difference.

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 07:04 PM

"trying to get folks to acknowledge/understand the connection between us...and the whole rest of the world"

I understand the connection... Mother Earth started the fight for survival, and now she's whining and sucking because she's loosing... Maybe one day, I'll get my wish and she'll wake up and shake us off like a bad case of fleas...

Hehehehehe

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 08:00 PM

I remember wishing that, when it came to celebrating the Millennium, somehow instead of all the fireworks, or maybe after all the fireworks, every one could turn off all the houselights and the streetlights, and let us look at the incredible sight of the stars for once. There they are, above our heads all the time, and most of us never get to see more than a handful of the brightest ones.

There are things that could be done to make it a bit better, like requiring that street lights should all have hoods that direct the light downwards. Here is a link to the British Astonomical Associations backed Campaign for Dark Skies

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 11:55 PM

Chief Seattle didn't say that, Ted Perry, an Austin, Texas screenwriter and professor of English at UT wrote it for a film, and he based this speech on an account written by a Victorian fellow (who never attended the original talk) 40 years or so after Seattle spoke.

I have security lights around my house. They're on motion detectors, and they only go on if someone approaches the house. For me, it is the best of both worlds, light when it is needed, and off when it isn't.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Peg
Date: 20 Apr 03 - 01:10 AM

thanks, Mudlark.

SRS: That quotation has been widely attributed to Chief Seattle; there is a much longer speech attached to it, actually. Do you have a source for the piece? What film is it from?

Clinton, instead of wishing your misanthropic doom on the rest of humanity, why not just off yourself now and save time, since that's what you seem to want anyway?

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Apr 03 - 03:05 AM

There's quite a bit of info about it on this website, Peg: clickety, though, I have to say I don't care for the author's tone when it comes to environmentalism. I suppose he was just miffed.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Apr 03 - 06:14 AM

the guys who went to my high school from 1980 onwards who have been diagnosed with testicular cancer at *25 TIMES the national rate*)

Could it be a reflection upon the frigidity of your local female population? Too many cases of numb-nut busting, blue-balls.

Personally, KackleKitty, I really like the tone of the educated fellow from Stanford University, especially the lines:

Large parts of the environmental movement are more concerned with feelings than with facts. The fake Chief Seattle speech appeals to them....

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Apr 03 - 09:57 PM

Looks like somebody turned on the lights again. Thanks, Max. Hope you and your family are having a happy Easter.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Peg
Date: 20 Apr 03 - 11:15 PM

wow, GUEST, you're shockingly ignorant.

Next time your doctor wants to check you out for testicular cancer, just tell him/her no thanks. The longer left undetected, the more likely it is to kill you. And clearly you have women beating your door down to sleep with you, so surely this dread disease will never affect you...since it is so clearly caused by lack of sex, as you point out. Something I'm sure you don't have a problem with. No sir. I'll bet you're just inundated with offers. 24-7-365. You stud you.

In any case, as far as I know most of the guys in my high school were getting just as much sex as they wanted.

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 20 Apr 03 - 11:49 PM

"why not just off yourself now and save time, since that's what you seem to want anyway?"

If I could put a bullet in my head RIGHT NOW and absolutely positively guarantee the total, and instant extinction of the human race, I wouldn't even give it a 2nd though...

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Peg
Date: 20 Apr 03 - 11:52 PM

there's nothing wrong with the human race as a whole...it's cynicism that destroys the future quicker than anything else.

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Gurney
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 12:47 AM

Long ago, when I worked in a biggish factory (Jaguar, Coventry, if anyone is interested)I did note that although the WORKFORCE were on shifts, the sparrows who lived in there only worked days, and there was an internal dawn chorus. We produced just as many cars, just as noisily, on nights. Perhaps the only wildlife that will survive the continuing human population explosion will be the ones that are adaptable enough to live with us, like Blackbirds, Sparrows, Rats, Foxes, Gulls etc.
The lights on tall erections are mostly to show nocturnal aeronautical idiots where they are. And the Police Chopper. (Sorry Officer.)

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 01:27 AM

Peg,

Do you suppose your community will discover one day that they've been living on their own version of Love Canal? We're so unconnected to the land these days that we rarely seem to know what happened on the land before our houses were built there. I asked around when I bought my house--this used to be part of a farm. But that isn't necessarily reassuring. A lot of stuff that isn't good for people and the rest of the natural world can be used in the name of farming practices. The movie Erin Brockovich for many Americans probably feels like an incidence of "there but for the grace of god go I. . ."

Here's a little summary of the Chief Seattle speech situation from the Urban Legends site:

In the Dec 1992 issue, an article by Linda Marsa covers the topic. Briefly:

Chief Seattle was a Suquamish Indian and was a skilled orator and diplomat. But the words popularly ascribed to him were penned by Ted Perry, a screenwriter, for "Home", a 1972 ABC film about ecology.

Chief Seattle did speak eloquently in 1854 (in his native dialect), according to accounts, but translations of his remarks weren't published until 30 years later, by Chief Seattle's "self-appointed Boswell", Henry Smith. In the 30's authors tinkered with the Smith's version. By the time Perry first heard it, at the first Earth Day, the speech had been significantly altered. Perry incorporated the essence of Seattle's sentiments in a script he wrote for the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission.
According to Perry, the film's producers Christianized Seattle's sensibilities and dropped Perry's name - despite his protests- from the script, which left the impression they were Seattle's words.

The thing is littered with flagrant anachronisms, of course. The transcontinental railroad wasn't completed until 15 years after the speech, the great buffalo slaughters didn't peak until 1872, seven years after Seattle's death, and bison never lived anywhere near Pugot [sic] Sound.

The citation for the first article that exposed the author of the Chief Seattle speech follows:
Database: WorldCat
Title:             "A whole religious concept"?: Chief Seattle's speech(es) : American origins and European reception: almost a detective story /
Author(s):          Kaiser, Rudolf, 1927- ; Seattle,; Chief,; 1790-1866.
Publication:       Hildesheim : Nortorf,
Year:               1985
Description:       48 p. ; 29 cm.
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor:         Indians of North America -- Land tenure.
                   Human ecology.
                   Suquamish Indians -- Land tenure.
Named Person:       Seattle, Chief, 1790-1866 -- Authorship.
Responsibility:    Rudolf Kaiser.
Document Type:      Book

Here is a link to the Ted Perry speech.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Turn off those lights!
From: Peg
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 02:02 AM

SRS;
thanks for that Chief Seattle info; between the websites kat mentioned and yours I have learned a lot about him! I would love to knwo what he really said...

My high school (which was built in 1979 for several million dollars and considered a state of the art building at the time) was indeed built near a toxic waste site. nothing was said about this at the time. I myself wondered why it was built in "the middle of nowhere" a vast tract of uninhabited land in a suburban area...I am not sure what has been done to clean up the problem but the high rates of cancer did make national news headlines...I will try to find an article.

Gurney: those light on tall structures cause some species of migrating birds to die in huge numbers. They crash into them because they're too bright and the birds get disoriented. Presumably lower-intensity of brightness would still serve to warn aircraft and prevent such high bird mortality.