Bicycle Accident on AIA Gulfstream

 

Light Pollution and What Seagate Can Do

I recently received an article from the Guardian discussing the issue of light pollution. This has been a particular concern of mine for the past 15 years when I first noticed the prevalence of additional ornamental lighting in Florida. At first, I thought it was nice and accented the landscaping and architectural features. After a time I spotted a trend to light up our neighborhoods without regard to utility or aesthetics. The advent of bright white LEDs has made this worse as the cost of lighting, which used to be quite high, is now so cheap that bulbs burn from dusk to dawn. 

Safety is often quoted as a requirement for more light. Lighting, that is not well designed, does nothing for our safety when bright lights blind us and render unlit areas even darker by comparison. The gradual adjustment of our eyes to darkness is not allowed to happen. Motion detecting lights are much more effective in deterring intruders as they surprise the perpetrator and alert guards or monitors to motion.

Additionally, our interior spaces have been invaded by light from outside as well as by appliances brought in by ourselves. Take a late-night walk around your apartment. How many LEDs are there blinking and glimmering? How tight are your blinds and can they allow the windows to be open for the Florida night breeze? What about those new ELS sensors blinking in our apartments? Did you know that there is a newer model these where the blinking can be turned off? What about the ambient light coming in from outside? The light leaking into my 9th-floor apartment is bright enough to read a book by. I suspect this is not healthy.

Many scholarly articles have recently been written on the subject. Most bemoan the loss of the "night sky". Now comes a "study of studies" to bring together many of these articles and provide an overview of the situation. As Seagate moves forward lighting our buildings properly must be addressed. Our priorities must be aligned so that we can accomplish the greater goal of reducing the light pollution that emanates from our property while maintaining safety and security for our residents. 

Climate change is a huge subject which is very difficult for any nation, much less condo association, to address. However, we can make an impact on light pollution. With a thoughtful approach, I believe that the goal of less light pollution emanating from Seagate can be accomplished.

Platt Johnson

Link to the Research Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-020-01322-x

Guardian Link:  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/02/treat-artificial-light-form-pollution-environment

Guardian Text in plain test is below.

Impact of human illumination has grown to point of systemic disruption, researchers find

Public lighting around the city of Geneva. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

Artificial light should be treated like other forms of pollution because its impact on the natural world has widened to the point of systemic disruption, research says.

Human illumination of the planet is growing in range and intensity by about 2% a year, creating a problem that can be compared to climate change, according to a team of biologists from the University of Exeter.

Hormone levels, breeding cycles, activity patterns and vulnerability to predators are being affected across a broad range of species, they write in a paper published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

From reduced pollination by insects and trees budding earlier in spring, to seabirds flying into lighthouses and sea turtles mistakenly wandering inland to bright hotels in search of the dawn sun, their study-of-studies brings together 126 previous papers to assess the extent of the impact.

In all the animal species examined, they found reduced levels of melatonin – a hormone that regulates sleep cycles – as a result of artificial light at night.

Behavioral patterns were also disturbed in both nocturnal and diurnal creatures. Rodents, which mostly forage at night, were active for a shorter duration, while birds started singing and searching for worms earlier in the day.

Light pollution is key 'bringer of insect apocalypse'

The outcomes were not purely negative. The scientists said certain species in certain locations benefited from night-time light: some plants grew faster and some types of bats thrived. But they said the overall effect was disruptive, particularly to the insects drawn to singeing bulbs or fast-moving car lamps.

“What stands out is how pervasive the effects are. The effects were found everywhere – microbes, invertebrates, animals and plants,” said the lead author, Kevin Gaston, a professor at the university’s Environment and Sustainability Institute. “We need to start thinking about lighting in the way we think of other big systemic pressures like climate change.”

He said there had been an increase in studies in the past five to 10 years as the amount of lighting in the world has increased and the effects become more evident.

Satellite images of the Earth at night show how rapidly the problem is expanding geographically, but lights are also becoming more intense as expensive soft amber bulbs are replaced by greater numbers of cheap bright white LEDs. This is biologically problematic because the white light has a wider spectrum, like sunlight.

Gaston urged governments, companies and individuals to be more discriminating. “At the moment, we have the attitude that lighting is something we chuck out there and don’t think about it very much. But we need to think in terms of using it only when we need it, where we need it and how we need it,” he said. “It is another pollutant.”

Unlike the climate crisis, however, he said solving the lighting problem would save rather than cost money. If people use fewer lights, it would mean lower costs, less electricity and lower emissions. But it would require a change of mindset.

“At the heart of this is a deep-rooted human need to light up the night. We are still in a sense afraid of the dark,” he said. “The ability to turn the night-time into something like the daytime is something we have pursued far beyond the necessity of doing so.”