Have you ever heard of "Shedding Light on Light Pollution?" I was very lucky to take a class from Karen McGraw, Outreach Coordinator for DarkSky Texas, a Texas Master Naturalist (Elm Fork Chapter), and a Texas Stream Team citizen scientist. In the past, I read a lot of articles on pollution, but never Light Pollution. It was one of the most fascinating classes I have taken at OLLI/UNT.
Did you know every living thing on our planet uses the cycle of light and dark to trigger life processes? Wildlife is at our mercy for their survival when you pollute the night sky with bright lights. The bigger cities grow, the more lights they have. The #1 Culprit for polluting the sky with lights at night impacting bird migration is Chicago and Texas is #3.
We also studied streetlights, security lights, and lights inside our own homes. For example, we looked at a picture of a house. Photo #1- just looked like a dark driveway and a typical front lawn with driveway and sidewalk. Then we saw Photo #2 with the bright lights from the security light shining over the driveway. The instructor asked us what we saw in the picture. We all said the same thing and then she asked, did you see the intruder? We all looked puzzled. Then she turned back to Photo #1 without the bright security lights shining on the driveway and we all saw the bad man on the sidewalk, standing there in the dark. You could everyone gasp!
Bright lights are blinding! They take our focus off of important things we need to see and pay attention too. Many cities, towns, and states in the USA have outdated outdoor lighting. All that bright light is wasted energy. We also looked at various streets and when the lights were bright, they might have looked pretty, but you couldn't see the architecture, signs, address, or who was walking on the avenue or streets.
Each student received a pair of glasses. Karen brought to class two types of outdoor light fixtures. With the glasses on, we could all see lots of bright rainbow-colored lights through the lenses. With the preferred outdoor bulb, we saw minimum streaks of colored lights from the sides of our eyes. The rainbow-colored light streams with the glasses were bright and distracting.
Review the chart below. The light fixtures on the left are unacceptable because they cause light pollution and wasted energy. People buying these types of lights are also wasting money and may not keep their homes safe. Light should shine down. Globes at night are very bad on wildlife and people's eyes. Karen says, don't use 5K Bright bulbs. Buy 3000K or less for the outdoors. Karen said in Florida some communities can only use red bulbs for the outdoors. When I asked her what type of bulbs she uses indoors, she said she does not buy LED bulb. She preferred warm amber color bulbs and goes to bed early.
We talked a lot about the glare. Bright lights from vehicles from drivers driving in the dark or on cloudy rainy days is very dangerous. Karen suggests talking to our eye doctors and ask about blue light blocking glasses. Cell phones at night are very bad for the eyes. We also learned some communities offer grants to change the lighting in their town or city. To become a dark sky community, requires an application. There are many municipalities domestic and international that are already in compliance. Being in compliance helps bird migration and other wildlife. Preserving and restoring the natural nighttime environment is more urgent than ever.
Sad! Light pollution is the human-made alteration of outdoor light levels from those occurring naturally. Here's what light pollution does:
- Destroys critical wildlife habitat having deadly effects on many species.
- Decreases safety and security and may increase crime.
- Wastes energy and money.
- Harms human health by increasing sleep disorders, depression, and diseases.
- Annoys neighbors who get bright lights shining on their property.
- Robs us of seeing the stars and galaxies. FYI 2/12 is a full snow moon.
- Interferes with scientific research and early warnings for asteroid collisions.
Questions you should ask about outdoor lighting:
- Is it useful with a clear purpose?
- Does the shield shine downwards where it is useful?
- Is it low-level, no brighter than usual?
- Is it controlled by timers and motions?
- Is it warm-colored.
If you live in Florida there is a great website to visit to save the sea turtles:
Sea Turtles and Lights | FWC. Anyone else can visit darksky.org to learn more.
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