The Hidden Costs of Light Pollution
Once a source of wonder - and one half of the entire planet’s natural environment - the star-filled nights of just a few years ago are vanishing in a yellow haze. Human-produced light pollution not only mars our view of the stars; poor lighting threatens astronomy, disrupts ecosystems, affects human circadian rhythms, and wastes energy to the tune of $2.2 billion per year in the U.S. alone.
http://www.darksky.org/ (IDA - International Dark-Sky Association)
http://www.darksky.org/ (IDA - International Dark-Sky Association)
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Hidden Costs Series: Light Pollution
Published on 4 Mar 2013; Hidden Costs
http://www.insurancequotes.org/hidden-cost-light-pollution For this week’s Hidden Costs video, we’re trying out a new approach. Instead of grading the impact of light pollution, our video team took to Seattle’s streets to capture the brilliance (and the tyranny) of our city’s night lights. The globe has never been so electrified. Today, most of Europe, the United States and all of Japan appear as solid blocks of light in satellite photos. Meanwhile, the stars have been all but extinguished from our night skies. The Earth is now readily visible from space, but space is no longer visible from Earth. The starscapes we do see today are a far and faint cry from those that the rest of humankind gazed up to for centuries. This is why the broad bright strokes of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” feel so carnivalesque. And it’s why the term “Milky Way” doesn’t make much sense to us anymore. But light pollution can also be a hazard to our health. Just about every organism on the planet lives its life according to the rhythms of daytime and darkness. Excessive light can disrupt an animal’s migratory, hunting, breeding and sleep cycles. And several human health problems — from chronic fatigue and migraines to sexual dysfunction — have also been linked to high-levels of light exposure. Light pollution’s most talked-about animal victims include migratory birds and sea turtles. Migrating birds often lose their flight paths once disoriented by far off lights or, more dangerously, misread skies and begin annual migrations too early in the year. Artificial light disorients sea turtle hatchlings as they make their journeys into the ocean. Normally, hatchlings follow shadows cast by sand dunes, but they can’t follow these natural watermarks when the moon’s light is diffused by the bright lights of a nearby beach town. So, what can we do to reclaim the darkness? Minimize your own light waste by opting for low wattage bulbs whenever possible and be sure to keep your lights off when you don’t need them. http://www.insurancequotes.org/hidden-cost-light-pollution If you’re interested in learning more about the effects of light pollution or want to get involved with current efforts to curb them, the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) is a great place to start. |
Losing the Dark
Published on 27 Feb 2013; IntDarkSkyAssoc
By The International Dark-Sky Association and Loch Ness Productions The International Dark-Sky Association is the only non-profit organization fighting to preserve the night. Starry skies are a vanishing treasure because light pollution is washing away our view of the cosmos. It not only threatens astronomy, it disrupts wildlife, and affects human health. The yellow glows over cities and towns — seen so clearly from space — are testament to the billions spent in wasted energy from lighting up the sky. To help raise public awareness of some of the issues pertaining to light pollution, Loch Ness Productions in collaboration with the International Dark-Sky Association has created a 6.5-minute "public service announcement" called 'Losing the Dark'. It introduces and illustrates some of the issues regarding light pollution, and suggests three simple actions people can take to help mitigate it. 'Losing the Dark' was initially created in fulldome video format for digital planetarium use. It also has been made as a conventional flat screen video, for use in classrooms, kiosks, museum theaters, and advocate multimedia presentations. Classic planetarium theaters without fulldome capability can show this version using their traditional video projectors. More information and links to downloads at: http://www.darksky.org /losingthedark 'Losing the Dark' is a joint production of the International Dark-Sky Association and Loch Ness Productions. Writer/narrator: Carolyn Collins Petersen Audio/video production: Mark C. Petersen Music: Geodesium Time-lapse photography and animation: Dome3D, Loch Ness Productions Additional imagery: NASA, DigitalSky 2, Adler Planetarium, Gregory Panayotou, Gemini Observatory / AURA, Dan Nixon Need-Less Campaign, Thomas O'Brien / tmophoto, Babak Tafreshi / TWAN Special thanks: Dr. Connie Walker (NOAO) and the IDA Education committee |