So important. I’d like to add how it affects humans. Messing with circadian rhythms and our electromagnetic cloud. Migraines, less sleep quality and ability to dream. The low amber lights of the past were more synced to how we evolved with the warm glow of fire. Now with the bright white led it hijacks the brain to be on all the time . As well as taking away the wonder. The magic of sitting under the stars and moonlight and being able to see a shooting star.
Oh, yes, what we do to ourselves with our nighttime lighting. I'm aware of the affects lights have on our circadian rhythm and other health disruptions for humans, but I was already getting longwinded with this post. Perhaps this will be the subject of a future Green Dispatch, as I occasionally write about human health in addition to the environment.
I truly loved that you shared with this. We forget we are all electrical systems (ekgs, mris, nervous system) and very much part and one with nature whether we realize it or not. I just wanted to add to the conversation... its the one thing I share as a foundation for healing work. - Turn down the EMR and EMF and stop frying your system. :) But yes, they've made white LED illegal in some nordic countries because of how they affect bird and insects. but we forget we are simmering in the bright lights too!
Personally, in my rural community in the Poconos, I feel that light pollution is nearly as bad as noise pollution. I lived on Long Island, NY, most of my life. It was so bright, not to mention noisy, at night that it was one of the factors of my leaving. I moved to a rural area believing it would be less bright and less noisy. My private, un-gated community is in a vacation area and half of the homes are vacation or second homes. Many residents appear to be afraid of the dark. Their homes are lit up whether they're here or not. Most have flood lights on every side of the house. Many of those flood lights are motion activated. Most of the homes also have huge strings of what I call circus lights, much brighter than Christmas lights, and those get turned on every night around dusk and stay on till midnight whether the folks are outside or not. I have shades or blinds and blackout curtains on every window in my house. Every evening at dusk I go through the same ritual of closing the shades and curtains before the flood and circus lights start blazing. Luckily, I don't live near any large towns or industrial areas, so I don't have that issue.
I wish people were more considerate, but alas the worst is yet to come...
I've seen this as well around my hometown of Clarksburg, West Virginia. It used to be that once you left town there would be a farm house here or there. There were no floodlights or porch lights gleaming through the night. Now, McMansions have spread through the countryside, all of which have large clearings of the forest around them, and all of them illuminated in some fashion. To me, it's a death by a thousand cuts: more clearing here, more lights there, until we've impinged more and more and fragmented habitat.
Great that you mention plants as a species that are troubled by light polution. Two things however.
The paper that you say that night light affects the dark phase of photosynthesis actually says that night light messes up the workings of photosystem I which is part of the light phase of photosynthesis. As it is part of the complex that harnesses light energy. Not that this makes the outcome for the plant any better.
Second the so called dark phase of photosynthesis, in which rubisco as part of the Calvin cycle fixes CO2 and water into sugars also takes place during the day. Because rubisco and other proteins of the Calvin cycle are light activated. I know the name dark cycle doesn't help here.
Femke, thanks or clarifying this. I admit that I haven't studied photosynthesis since I was an undergraduate, a long, long time ago. I guess I've forgotten quite a bit. Thanks for clarifying the topic.
I admit I only picked it up because I did a recent post on photosynthesis for which I went back to the textbook to refresh myself on the topic. It is afterall a complex process.
So important. I’d like to add how it affects humans. Messing with circadian rhythms and our electromagnetic cloud. Migraines, less sleep quality and ability to dream. The low amber lights of the past were more synced to how we evolved with the warm glow of fire. Now with the bright white led it hijacks the brain to be on all the time . As well as taking away the wonder. The magic of sitting under the stars and moonlight and being able to see a shooting star.
Oh, yes, what we do to ourselves with our nighttime lighting. I'm aware of the affects lights have on our circadian rhythm and other health disruptions for humans, but I was already getting longwinded with this post. Perhaps this will be the subject of a future Green Dispatch, as I occasionally write about human health in addition to the environment.
I truly loved that you shared with this. We forget we are all electrical systems (ekgs, mris, nervous system) and very much part and one with nature whether we realize it or not. I just wanted to add to the conversation... its the one thing I share as a foundation for healing work. - Turn down the EMR and EMF and stop frying your system. :) But yes, they've made white LED illegal in some nordic countries because of how they affect bird and insects. but we forget we are simmering in the bright lights too!
Personally, in my rural community in the Poconos, I feel that light pollution is nearly as bad as noise pollution. I lived on Long Island, NY, most of my life. It was so bright, not to mention noisy, at night that it was one of the factors of my leaving. I moved to a rural area believing it would be less bright and less noisy. My private, un-gated community is in a vacation area and half of the homes are vacation or second homes. Many residents appear to be afraid of the dark. Their homes are lit up whether they're here or not. Most have flood lights on every side of the house. Many of those flood lights are motion activated. Most of the homes also have huge strings of what I call circus lights, much brighter than Christmas lights, and those get turned on every night around dusk and stay on till midnight whether the folks are outside or not. I have shades or blinds and blackout curtains on every window in my house. Every evening at dusk I go through the same ritual of closing the shades and curtains before the flood and circus lights start blazing. Luckily, I don't live near any large towns or industrial areas, so I don't have that issue.
I wish people were more considerate, but alas the worst is yet to come...
I've seen this as well around my hometown of Clarksburg, West Virginia. It used to be that once you left town there would be a farm house here or there. There were no floodlights or porch lights gleaming through the night. Now, McMansions have spread through the countryside, all of which have large clearings of the forest around them, and all of them illuminated in some fashion. To me, it's a death by a thousand cuts: more clearing here, more lights there, until we've impinged more and more and fragmented habitat.
Great that you mention plants as a species that are troubled by light polution. Two things however.
The paper that you say that night light affects the dark phase of photosynthesis actually says that night light messes up the workings of photosystem I which is part of the light phase of photosynthesis. As it is part of the complex that harnesses light energy. Not that this makes the outcome for the plant any better.
Second the so called dark phase of photosynthesis, in which rubisco as part of the Calvin cycle fixes CO2 and water into sugars also takes place during the day. Because rubisco and other proteins of the Calvin cycle are light activated. I know the name dark cycle doesn't help here.
Otherwise great piece and message.
Femke, thanks or clarifying this. I admit that I haven't studied photosynthesis since I was an undergraduate, a long, long time ago. I guess I've forgotten quite a bit. Thanks for clarifying the topic.
I admit I only picked it up because I did a recent post on photosynthesis for which I went back to the textbook to refresh myself on the topic. It is afterall a complex process.
Like water, light is good. Too much of either is bad.
https://youtu.be/ftL1EgNgVMQ?si=J3ApzJecw679hu1c