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Light pollution is getting worse across much of the globe, with the exception of countries like Yemen and Syria:
A study of pictures of Earth by night has revealed that artificial light is growing brighter and more extensive every year. Between 2012 and 2016, the planet's artificially lit outdoor area grew by more than 2% per year. Scientists say a "loss of night" in many countries is having negative consequences for "flora, fauna, and human well-being".
A team published the findings in the journal Science Advances. Their study used data from a Nasa satellite radiometer - a device designed specifically to measure the brightness of night-time light. It showed that changes in brightness over time varied greatly by country. Some of the world's "brightest nations", such as the US and Spain, remained the same. Most nations in South America, Africa and Asia grew brighter. [...]
- In 2016, the American Medical Association officially recognised the "detrimental effects of poorly designed, high-intensity LED lighting", saying it encouraged communities to "minimise and control blue-rich environmental lighting by using the lowest emission of blue light possible to reduce glare. The sleep-inducing hormone melatonin is particularly sensitive to blue light.
- A recent study published in the journal Nature [DOI: 10.1038/nature23288] [DX] revealed that artificial light was a threat to crop pollination - reducing the pollinating activity of nocturnal insects.
- Research in the UK revealed that trees in more brightly lit areas burst their buds up to a week earlier [open, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0813] [DX] than those in areas without artificial lighting.
- A study published earlier this year found that urban light installations "dramatically altered" the behaviour of nocturnally migrating birds.
Lead researcher Christopher Kyba from the German Research Centre for Geoscience in Potsdam said that the introduction of artificial light was "one of the most dramatic physical changes human beings have made to our environment".
Also at Sky & Telescope, NPR, and EurekAlert.
Artificially lit surface of Earth at night increasing in radiance and extent (open, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1701528) (DX)
Previously: Bring on the Night, say National Park Visitors in New Study
Light Pollution Prevents 80% of North Americans From Seeing the Milky Way
Study Shows That Artificial Lights Deter Nocturnal Pollinators
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 27 2017, @03:32PM (24 children)
Long term, light pollution screws up all kinds of natural cycles, including those in human beings.
Short term, your local police will tell you to keep a light on at night for your personal safety - of course, if we could think long term and not push people into the position of threatening your personal safety to meet their (real or perceived) personal needs, then we could back off on this "lights on for safety" idea.
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(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @03:46PM (4 children)
you can have as much outdoor lighting as you want.
just follow these two simple rules:
1. point it at the ground, don't leak anything towards the sky. i.e. at most you should emit light parallel to the ground, never higher.
2. use red, yellow or green. don't emit any wavelength below 500 nm, or 550 if you're generous.
these two simple rules would result in huge benefits to everyone, and they do not affect safety in any way.
I really don't see why society should not agree to these, as long as we explain properly.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 27 2017, @04:08PM (3 children)
Sodium vapor lamps largely follow your guidelines, and there's still a tremendous amount of ground-bounce in urban areas that have them installed widespread.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-vapor_lamp [wikipedia.org]
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(Score: 4, Informative) by Snotnose on Monday November 27 2017, @05:17PM (1 child)
The advantage of sodium lights is their light is easily filtered out by astronomers.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 27 2017, @08:07PM
There's a concept: blue (sodium blocker) glasses for night viewing of the stars.
Next problem: smog.
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(Score: 1) by toddestan on Saturday December 02 2017, @05:20PM
The proliferation of LED lamps replacing Sodium lamps is likely one of the reasons this problem is getting worse. I'm all for using LEDs, but these lights are almost always white instead of orange, and the white tends to be towards the blue end of the spectrum too.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Monday November 27 2017, @04:34PM (2 children)
That's what prison and personal firearms are for. They're helpful pushes the other way. I think the basics are implemented, we just need a law enforcement system that works better and doesn't have the distraction of victimless crimes like drug use and prostitution.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 27 2017, @08:13PM
Prisons have been around for millennia, practical daily carry personal firearms since the mid-1800s. I'm not particularly happy with the level of compliance they have achieved.
Looking around the modern world, places with massive wealth disparity also seem to have serious security issues (as in: the wealthy have serious security - armed guards, etc.) Places with relatively good living conditions for the poor seem to have less need for sub-machine toting guards on patrol 24 hours.
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(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday November 27 2017, @09:18PM
They don't work. Honestly nothing will ever prevent crime short of exterminating the human race.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday November 27 2017, @04:40PM (7 children)
But think and remember back a few millennia when we were younger. Night has always been a time when people are concerned for their personal safety. Because: bad people! Who do bad things! While you are asleep! (not to imply Santa) Ancient cities were built with walls and the gates were shut at night in a way that could be taken as most unwelcoming. If they had modern lights, they would have used them.
But one idea that might help with light pollution: Safety lights triggered by motion sensors or other types of censors.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday November 27 2017, @08:09PM (3 children)
I think you're forgetting that other human beings weren't the only things to be afraid of in the dark. Plenty of places in the world where you are keeping out other apex predators. Light was traditionally provided by fire, and that scared off a lot of different animals. Possibly because it confused them.
Motion sensors can be triggered by animal life quite a bit. Better to get nightvision sensors and a small controller to detect bipedal motion before turning on the light.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 27 2017, @11:20PM (2 children)
We've refined the gene pool of so many apex predators to be afraid of us, the fire all night trick might not be needed anymore.
Florida alligators were hunted to near extinction in the 1970s, then we let the population rebound from the ones that managed to not get shot back then. When they get aggressive, they get killed. I imagine much the same happening to lions, tigers and bears all over the world.
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(Score: 2) by acid andy on Tuesday November 28 2017, @01:39AM (1 child)
Maybe, to those that are left, but they're really dying out too fast to effectively evolve due to poaching and massive loss of habitat. Many subspecies of tiger for example are now down to a few hundred individuals if not already extinct in the last few decades.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 28 2017, @04:13AM
Ten years ago, this sounded crazy, but not anymore: https://5050by2150.wordpress.com/ [wordpress.com]
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(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 27 2017, @08:16PM
Motion sensor security lighting is a whole lot better than always-on. I have some solar path-lighting that glows just above starlight levels until it senses you move, at which point it becomes more like full-moon lighting - it works great on the sunny side of the house, under the trees not so much.
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(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Monday November 27 2017, @11:12PM (1 child)
Turn off that light! You can't say that here! Do you know how many Soylentils you have triggered with your suggestion of universal surveillance?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday November 28 2017, @02:11PM
The motion sensors and the censors always turn ON the lights when unwanted activity is detected in the darkness. Like cats doing shameful things that should be done by neither man, nor beast, nor covfefe grabbers.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Tuesday November 28 2017, @05:23AM (7 children)
Earlier this year, we had the power out due to storms. I walked through the neighborhood at night to relieve boredom. I could see much further than normal at night since the street lights weren't blinding me. I was surprised how active the wildlife was at night once I could actually see it. Without deep shadows, there was nowhere for bad people to hide.
When actual studies are done, lighting is at best a mixed bag. It certainly isn't the instant safety too many believe it is. Perhaps it's time for people over 8 years old to give up the night light.
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 28 2017, @01:48PM (6 children)
While I agree, I'm only 50 years old, and my vision is deteriorating rather rapidly - lots of people in their late 50s and up have very poor night vision.
Also, you're absolutely right about distance vision etc. but, remember the "I've got mine, f- everybody else" mentality that puts barking dogs in yards, car alarms and all sorts of other BS that "makes it easier for thieves to go victimize someone else." Floodlights are more of the same. Even if you can't blanket the whole neighborhood with sufficient lighting, at least you can light up YOUR house and keep YOURSELF safe, nevermind that now all your neighbors have degraded security because your floodlights bring on night blindness that makes ordinarily visible areas invisible.
Back to my original point: address the root cause of the problem, reduce the number of people motivated to behave badly and you can reduce the need for locally intense security. I'd much rather roam a world that's 99% safe than live in a fortress that's 99.3% safe.
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(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday November 28 2017, @04:59PM (5 children)
I saw 0 people who were up to no good. How can I reduce that? The neighborhood across the street has no street lights and their crime rate is no different. How can I improve upon that?
As for individuals adding lighting, how about require it to be motion triggered and requiring the sensors be tuned so that there is no point outside of their own property where motion will trigger the light and the movement has to be something larger than a dog?
As for people with poor night vision, those solar path lights on their own property should be fine. People who don't see well after dark tend to not go out after dark anyway. When necessary, there are some rather bright LED flashlights out there they can use.
I do support at least assurances that everyone has enough to live on and the sense of security that it will remain that way, I just don't see that as addressing our overuse of lighting.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 28 2017, @11:05PM (4 children)
Great ideas, good luck getting any kind of practical implementation - we're doing good around here to get a building inspector to actually identify life-threatening problems, police to take a report when actual measurable damage has been done, fiddly stuff like motion sensor sensitivity is way out in the noise that enforcement couldn't possibly do an adequate job with.
Around the coast here, there's the "turtle lighting" concept that's semi-successful, but only because baby turtles are cute and have had 30 years of activist support. Getting people to acknowledge bio-rhythms, seasonal affective disorder, and all that other touchy-feely "crap" will just get backlash from the shift workers and other zombies who are too tough to acknowledge that this could possibly be a problem for anything other than a pansy that probably doesn't deserve to live anyway.
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(Score: 3, Funny) by sjames on Wednesday November 29 2017, @03:40AM (3 children)
One answer is to declare that a light that triggers when you walk by on the street is legally a public BB gun target :-) Or perhaps just accept citizen video of the light triggering from the street so they don't have to actively patrol to collect ticket revenue. See here [thechive.com] for another solution (perhaps sub-optimal :-)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday November 29 2017, @01:54PM (2 children)
I lived in a "condo association" community of homes on 1-2 acre lots. The board of governors there was very concerned about the rash of security problems and what we could do about them. I suggested gating the community since our roads were private already - very effective, limits traffic to mostly neighborhood residents and specific guests - statistically drops random crimes by 80%+ It's the isolationist version of wealth equality - if you keep out the poor people, the remaining people are more or less in your income bracket and less likely to victimize you. They hemmed and hawed over the whole concept and finally admitted that the crime wave consisted of neighborhood kids going in other people's garages, twice in the last year. Note, these are unemployed suburban kids with frugal parents, so: effectively economically disadvantaged in their own minds - thus the B&E activity on their part. Gate won't fix that, parents that do more than tell the kids "f-you and your wish for a new playstation game, get a job" would help a bit (parents could actually facilitate getting the kids a job, or otherwise keep them occupied with something to do besides contemplate what tightwads their parents are and how they might come by $50 without a car...)
A few houses there played the terrawatt security lighting game, it wasn't terribly useful. Path lighting did increase safety quite a bit, tripping on stuff in the dark is dangerous.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Wednesday November 29 2017, @09:48PM (1 child)
There is part of the problem. 2 youthful indiscretions in a year, which were apparently solved (and hopefully corrected) crimes, becomes a security problem that must be addressed. Add to that a few telemarketers claiming there's been a rash of break-ins in the neighborhood (a lie) to sell placebo alarm systems and it's no wonder so many are filled with nebulous fear. The endless news stories about person I don't know shot by person I don't know in place I've never been don't help.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday November 29 2017, @10:02PM
That particular group in the Board of Governors was a real bunch of snakes. They'd push and push their agenda, whatever it was, under the auspices of something else: "crime wave" or "neighborhood beautification" or "fiscal responsibility" or whatever, then, when you'd finally parsed their whole proposal, 90% of the talk was a smoke-screen for the real things they were after, things they barely talked about if at all, things that required 90% of their proposed budget, while the big talk items really didn't cost anything.
Needless to say, our next (and current) home is in the unregulated county. That condo association was cool about 80% of the time, until a "bloc" of bad apples got in control all at once - then they really made a lot of people unhappy in a very short time. We've been gone ~6 years now, and I understand that: A) after we left they got to the point of paying a Sheriff's deputy to oversee the casting and counting of ballots electing the next board, and B) they've circled back to "bad times" again recently.
Fortunately, the real jerks lived nowhere near me, otherwise I might have installed a terrawatt spotlight focused on their bedroom window, with a random flash controller.
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