Michael and John discuss with Etta how to engage people with Dark Skies so as to bring them back. Etta is taking steps to do just that with her company, Visit Dark Skies, where you can immerse yourself into a true nature experience with her audio-guided stargazing. Etta Dannemann, Dipl.-Ing., has been in the lighting industry for 10 years before founding VISIT DARK SKIES GmbH, a company dedicated to the experience of the natural night sky. As a lighting designer, she has been interested in light and darkness and especially in light-related biological processes like the darkness adaptation of the human eye.
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– VisitDarkSkies.com
– Visit Dark Skies on Instagram
– Visit Dark Skies on Twitter
– Etta on LinkedIn
There’s air pollution, water pollution and noise pollution. Why hasn’t light pollution been recognised the same way? This is the question Michael Colligan and John Bullock tackle with Yana. Of course it takes awareness, but also commitment. And it just might be that the best way to get commitment is to get it in the books legally. It’s a complex problem that Yana is dedicated to studying, and maybe… solving? We didn’t even get into her research on space law. We’re going to have Yana back! Yana Yakushina is a practicing lawyer and researcher in the field of environmental and space law. Currently, Yana is working on her Ph.D. thesis on the legal recognition of light pollution as an environmental problem at the University of Ghent (Belgium).
Sponsored by EVLUMA
– Community Classroom: Light Pollution with Yana Yakushina
As you’ve heard on this podcast before, existing satellites are incapable of detecting the blue light of LED’s and thus produce incomplete imagery of light pollution. Ken explains to Michael how he and his colleagues are sending balloons almost 30 kilometers into the sky and beginning to map light pollution in a very unique way.
Ken Walczak is the Senior Manager of Far Horizons at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago – a hands-on science, engineering and research program for students, volunteers and the public. He is a board member of the International Dark-Sky Association and an associate member of the IES.
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– Ken on ResearchGate
– Ken on Twitter
Michael discusses with Catherine Pérez Vega the question: Is light a pollutant? Catherine is researching the effects of artificial light on organisms and there is little doubt that it is. And there’s little doubt that it affects the organisms called humans, as well. Obviously modern society needs some artificial light at night, but all the other organisms don’t. As Catherine says, “how do we apply artificial lighting for our benefit, but at the same time take care of the night time?” Catherine is currently a Doctoral candidate in Biology at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany with her research taking place at the Light Pollution and Ecophysiology research group of Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB). Her work involves the interphase of ecology and architectural lighting to mitigate environmental solutions for urban lighting design applications.
Sponsored by EVLUMA
– Research Publication – Urban Lighting Research Transdisciplinary Framework—A Collaborative Process with Lighting Professionals
– Research Publication – A Systematic Review for Establishing Relevant Environmental Parameters for Urban Lighting
– Email Catherine
– Catherine on Twitter
– Leibniz Institute on Twitter
Michael and John are thrilled to have Professor Foster on the podcast. He brings his deep scientific knowledge and understanding of circadian photobiology. Russell tells us about his discovery of the third photoreceptor in the eye for which he got a lot of pushback from the scientific community in the 90’s. They don’t push back anymore. Professor Foster is the Head of Oxford’s Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, the founder and Director of the Sleep and Circadian Research Institute and is a Fellow of Brasenose College Oxford. His research addresses how circadian rhythms and sleep are generated and regulated and what happens when these systems fail as a result of societal pressures, ageing and disease.
Sponsored by EVLUMA
Circadian Therapeutics
Rhythms of Life: The Biological Clock that Control the Daily Lives of Every Living Thing
Seasons of Life
Sleep: A Very Short Introduction
Circadian Rhythms: A Very Short Introduction
In this episode you get three unique perspectives on urban lighting. Co-host Michael Colligan in Canada, co-host John Bullock in the U.K and guest Kate Hickcox from The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. They discuss the challenges of lighting populated areas. Will more light decrease crime? Will less light? Perhaps it has to do with the kind of lighting. Listen to this, then join the conversation. Kate Hickcox joined PNNL as a Lighting Research Scientist in 2020. She is a creative thinker in the field of lighting, with over 18 years of experience in both lighting research and lighting design. No matter which hat she’s wearing, her goals are simple – to provide equitable and universal lighting solutions that support humans and the environment. Kate’s unique background blends the artistic with the practical and allows for discovery of unique design solutions and innovative research-based strategies.
Sponsored by EVLUMA
Kate Sweater Lighting on Instagram
Kate S. Hickcox on LinkedIn
Kate S. Hickcox Publications
As Bastian Groiss says, people see light as an enabler for vision. But light – sunlight in particular – is so much more. It triggers hormonal reactions, allows your immune system to recharge and gives the mitochondria the energy to repair your eyes. Of course healthy light during the day allows healthy darkness at night to do its thing. And stop wearing sunglasses! Bastian is of German origins with a rural upbringing. He is a former project manager, self taught wood worker and handyman, spiritual explorer, student of the Diamond Approach, ambassador for regenerative agriculture, circadian rhythms, natural light and reconnecting with nature.
App: Circadian: Your Natural Rhythm Books
Mentioned: The Comfort Crisis – The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self by Michael Easter (Rodale Books)
Luminous Life: How the Science of Light Unlocks the Art of Living by Jacob Israel Liberman, Erik Liberman, Gina Liberman (New World Library)
The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris (Delta)
Sponsored by EVLUMA
Bastian on Instagram
Bastian on Facebook
Bastian on Telegram
John Bullock, guest co-host on this episode, asks the question, “How do we shift the argument so that we can start to talk about the reality of what we experience rather than the propaganda of what people tell us is a problem.” And from there, Michael, John and Nona discuss the history of street lighting, the unproven link between light and safety and the spiritual notion of light equaling safety. Perhaps, as Nona says, we need to reveal the “invisible infrastructures.”
Nona Schulte-Römer is currently working and teaching as senior researcher at Humboldt University in Berlin in a social scientific project on the public understanding of 5G and light exposure in urban contexts. She has a background in humanities, sociology and journalism. In her previous research she has focused on public lighting, light pollution, sustainable chemistry and aquatic micropollutants. Her focus is thereby how these phenomena become issues of public concern or remain ‘invisible’ infrastructures.
Mentions in the podcast:
Wolfgang Schivelbusch, “Disenchanted Night: The Industrialization of Light in the Nineteenth Century”, University of California Press
Our citizen science project website:
https://nachtlicht-buehne.de/startseite/nightlights/
Our citizen science app can be found and tested or used here: https://lichter.nachtlicht-buehne.de/
Sponsored by EVLUMA
Innovating in public. The introduction of LED lighting in Berlin and Lyon
Light Pollution – A Global Discussion
Nona on Twitter
Humboldt Uni on Twitter
Michael and Michael – or “Marlin” as he likes to be referred to – delve into the practical and spiritual aspects of restoring darkness. Practical, as in not running someone over because you can’t see them from the glare of car and street lights, and spiritual, as in seeing the stars and the Milky Way allowing us to connect with the universe and our ancestors.
Michael Marlin (aka Marlin) has been actively involved in Dark Sky advocacy for 35 years, initially as a theatrical director/producer of an international touring show that raised awareness of the loss of darkness due to light pollution, (LUMA: Art in Darkness) and today as a dark sky ambassador for the International Astronomical Union and International Dark-Sky Association. Marlin is the author of “Astrotourism: Star Gazers, Eclipse Chasers, and the Dark Sky Movement” the first book on the topic of the new emerging market of ‘Star Tourism’.
Sponsored by EVLUMA
Michael Marlin on LinkedIn
TedX Speaker
Marlin on Twitter
MindOfMarlin.com
Marlin on Youtube
Here on Restoring Darkness, we’ve talked about the impact of light pollution, how to restore darkness, and now, in this episode, Michael discusses, with Dr. Stone, the ethical aspects of restoring darkness and maintaining lights at night.
Dr. Taylor Stone is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for Science and Ethics, University of Bonn. He studied architecture and worked in the environmental non-profit sector before completing a PhD in Ethics of Technology at Delft University of Technology. His research focuses on the ethics of urban lighting, and what it means to value – and ultimately design for – darkness. Taylor’s writing has appeared in a variety of academic journals, and in 2019 he received a Recognition Award for Research from the Professional Lighting Design Convention (PLD-C).
Sponsored by EVLUMA
Dr. Taylor Stone on LinkedIn
University of Bonn Institute for Science and Ethics