High Pressure Sodium might be the best street lights for our rods and cones, but LED is here to stay, so we’re going to have to figure it out. Noah talks with Michael and Mark about reports, studies, and solutions. He gives us some very interesting facts about cone cells in our eyes under yellow light, and why military bases and astronomers use red light to illuminate at night. But cities have gone and are going to blue light LED’s at night, and no one wants to admit to this mistake. Noah Sabatier is a photographer and lighting researcher that is dedicated to advocating for better outdoor lighting. Noah has spent the past 5 years living with a night shift sleep schedule, during this time he realized that the streetlights in his city were far from optimal – and recent changes had only made them worse. He has spent the past 2 years extensively reviewing scientific literature and technical documents alongside others advocating for better lighting. Noah is now working to raise awareness of common misconceptions that lead to bad lighting and the better practices needed to solve this problem.
See some of Noah’s work on The Soft Lights Foundation website: https://www.softlights.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/A-Multi-Field-Analysis-of-Street-Lighting-in-Grand-Rapids-Michigan.pdf
Softlights.org
Soft Lights Foundation on Facebook
Ban Blinding LEDs Group on Facebook
Petition to Ban Blinding Headlights
This is John Barentine’s second appearance and we still haven’t exhausted the conversation. How do we solve the light pollution problem? John has some ideas. Use reason and science and, as is John’s mission, give people the transformational experience of the night sky. How do we help that happen? By implementing the existing knowledge and technology of the lighting industry that knows how to make that a reality NOW! John Barentine is the Principal Consultant at Dark Sky Consulting, LLC, and was formerly the Director of Public Policy for the International Dark-Sky Association. He earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin, and previously held staff positions at the National Solar Observatory, Apache Point Observatory, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Throughout his career, he has been involved in education and outreach efforts to help increase the public understanding of science. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union, and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. The asteroid (14505) Barentine is named in his honor. His interests outside of astronomy and light pollution research include history, art and architecture, politics, law and current events.
Connect with John: https://twitter.com/JohnBarentine
Mastodon: @JohnBarentine@astrodon.social
www.darkskyconsulting.com
Jin joins us from North Carolina where he is, along with earning his Ph.D, doing his best to reduce – or eliminate – bird-window collisions. In fact window collisions are mostly a daytime problem. The night time problem is light at night. This draws birds in and they then collide with any part of a building, or they die from exhaustion, confused and circling the light. Come on humanity, we can do better! Jin Bai is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology program at NCSU and studies the drivers of urban bird diversity. He has extensive experience designing, coordinating, and assisting citizen science projects, including organizing the Triangle Bird Count. Jin co-founded City Bird with a mission of documenting bird-window collisions and advocating for bird-friendly college campuses in the Triangle area of North Carolina. Additionally, Jin is a board member of the New Hope Audubon Society, a local non-profit chapter of the National Audubon Society covering Orange, Durham, and Chatham counties of NC, dedicated to local bird conservation.
Connect with Jin: www.citybird.org www.jinbai.online – City Bird on Instagram, City Bird on Twitter/X, Jin on Twitter/X
From the first faint signals from Sputnik in 1957 to an estimated half a million satellites orbiting the earth in 2030 – yeah, we were shocked too! The effects on earth based astronomy could be devastating. And then there are all the things that can go wrong, like collisions and the build up of aluminum and other particles in the high atmosphere from burned-up satellites. On the bright side, there is growing cooperation from satellite companies, in mitigating the reflective properties of satellites. Dr Tregloan-Reed completed his Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Keele, Staffordshire, UK and then went on to a two year postdoctoral research fellowship at NASA Ames Research center, California USA. In 2018, Dr Tregloan-Reed relocated to Northern Chile and his primary research is in exoplanets, specializing in exoplanets which orbit active host stars, to better understand how stellar activity can impact our ability to detect and characterize exoplanetary systems. Since the start of 2020 and after the launch of Darksat, SpaceX’s first attempt to dim their satellites, Dr Tregloan-Reed has been leading an international network of telescopes in performing brightness measurements of satellite constellations such as Starlink, OneWeb, and Amazon Kuiper. This survey is collecting data to allow astronomers to develop mitigation software and to ascertain the impact of satellite constellations to the quality of the night sky and Astronomy.
Connect with Dr. Tregloan-Reed: Universidad de Atacama https://inct.uda.cl/ IAU CPS https://cps.iau.org/ The Chilean Skies Foundation https://cieloschile.cl/ https://twitter.com/Tregloan_Reed Bluesky: @astro-jay.bsky.social
Mark Baker is back and he’s still advocating for people who experience the harmful effects of LED light. Mark tells us about some ongoing litigation involving car lots and nearby residents, and a successful one against a town in Minnesota. You’re going to see more of Mark here, as the Soft Lights Foundation and the Lighting & Darkness Foundation work together to tackle the problems of harmful LED’s. Mark Baker is the President of The Soft Light Foundation, a non-profit organization that advocates for the protection of people and the environment from the harms of visible radiation emitted by products that use Light Emitting Diodes. Mark is the primary author of a primer on the differences between a curved surface emitter and a flat surface emitter. His co-authors include subject matter experts in the fields of physics, engineering, medicine, and light pollution. Connect with Mark: The Soft Lights Foundation – The Soft Lights Foundation on Facebook – Ban Blinding LEDs on Facebook – Petition to Ban Blinding Headlights
Watch this episode and you’ll feel the hope and positivity emanating from your screen from Aparna and John. Michael discusses, with Aparna and John, humanity’s lost connection with the sky, forgotten sky stories and traditions from many cultures, and even the lighting industry’s little corner of the climate change problem, which we could effectively tackle RIGHT NOW, if there was only the willpower to do so. Aparna and John haven’t lost hope. Aparna Venkatesan is an astronomer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and co-Director of the Tracy Seeley Center for Teaching Excellence, at the University of San Francisco. She works on studies of the first stars and quasars in the universe, and is also actively involved in projects in cultural astronomy and space policy. She currently serves as co-Chair of the American Astronomical Society’s Committee to Protect Astronomy and the Space Environment (COMPASSE). Professor Venkatesan has been recognized internationally for her research and DEI leadership, featured widely in the media, and received numerous prizes and awards. She is deeply committed to increasing the retention of underrepresented groups in astronomy and STEM, and is active in developing scientific partnerships with Indigenous communities worldwide.
John Barentine is the Principal Consultant at Dark Sky Consulting, LLC, and was formerly the Director of Public Policy for the International Dark-Sky Association. He earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin, and previously held staff positions at the National Solar Observatory, Apache Point Observatory, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Throughout his career, he has been involved in education and outreach efforts to help increase the public understanding of science. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union, and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. The asteroid (14505) Barentine is named in his honor. His interests outside of astronomy and light pollution research include history, art and architecture, politics, law and current events.
Connect with Aparna: https://www.usfca.edu/faculty/aparna-venkatesan
Connect with John: https://twitter.com/JohnBarentine
Mastodon: @JohnBarentine@astrodon.social www.darkskyconsulting.com
Hannah practices “place-based” research. Rather than finding international or national solutions, she advocates for small scale “place-based” solutions for local areas that will have their own challenges. As an astrophysicist, she is working to make the science understandable, accessible and more relevant. Michael brings up an interesting philosophical question that arises from that endeavor. Hannah Dalgleish is a knowledge exchange professional working in the academic and place-based policy engagement sphere. She has a PhD in astrophysics and has been involved in numerous projects related to astronomy for development, with a particular focus on dark skies and society, light pollution and policy, and science communication. She helps to coordinate the International Astronomical Youth Camp and is a former Trustee of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Connect with Hannah:
Hannah on LinkedIn
Hannah on Twitter
HannahSDalgleish.com
@hannahsuzanne.bsky.social
It’s about communication, spreading knowledge, and good lighting. As a member of Lighting Urban Community International (LUCI), Elisa is one of many across the globe advocating to use light as a tool for social, cultural and economic development. Before you develop your urban area, contact Elisa (or one of her colleagues from LUCI) and she’ll help you avoid bad lighting. Let’s get it right the first time!
Elisa Hillgen is a lighting designer, light artist and a lighting coordinator at the City of Jyväskylä, known as City of Light. She has previously worked in the field of building and interior design, and has over 15 years of experience in different fields of lighting. For the last 7 years, she has focused on urban lighting and light art projects. Her job as the lighting coordinator of Jyväskylä includes taking care of the dark time cityscape by organizing design projects and maintenance for urban lighting and working in the light festival team. She is also the LUCI Association contact person for the City of Jyväskylä, which is currently the president of the global network.
Connect with Elisa:
https://valonkaupunki.jyvaskyla.fi/en/city-light-jyvaskyla
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisahillgen/
https://www.instagram.com/hilgelli/
Rachel comes to us from the Sea Turtle Conservancy in Florida. She’s doing her part to protect the turtles in so many ways. She helps to conduct code enforcement workshops for municipal enforcement officers around the state, and she is promoting wildlife-friendly lighting, by following key principles: keeping lights low, shielding them from view, using longer wavelengths, and minimizing unnecessary lighting. Her goal is to reduce light pollution and its impact on wildlife, particularly sea turtles, by promoting responsible lighting practices. Rachel Tighe is a certified lighting specialist I in the lighting industry through the National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors. Rachel has worked for environmental and conservation driven organizations for over 14 years with a focus in minimizing the anthropogenic threats to wildlife and the natural world. She has worked as the Lighting Project Manager for Sea Turtle Conservancy, the oldest sea turtle organization in the world, for over the past seven years. Rachel and her team work to mitigate problematic lights on sea turtle nesting habitat. Connect with Rachel: www.conserveturtles.org @conserveturtles
LEDs came along in the early 2000’s. They emitted light. They were energy efficient. What could be bad? Ask Mark Baker who’s highly sensitive to certain LED lights. And there are people worse off than him who cannot neurologically tolerate the type of radiation emitted by LEDs. Imagine if you couldn’t go to a store or walk under street lights lest you get dizzy, acquire a migraine or fall into an epileptic episode. There are thousands of people who can’t leave their house, and now can’t even replace their light bulbs with incandescents. And let’s not forget about the natural world where studies on the effects of LEDs have barely scratched the surface. Mark Baker is the President of The Soft Lights Foundation, a non-profit organization that advocates for the protection of people and the environment from the harms of visible radiation emitted by products that use Light Emitting Diodes. Mark is the primary author of a primer on the differences between a curved surface emitter and a flat surface emitter. His co-authors include subject matter experts in the fields of physics, engineering, medicine, and light pollution. Connect with Mark: The Soft Lights Foundation – The Soft Lights Foundation on Facebook – Ban Blinding LEDs on Facebook – Petition to Ban Blinding Headlights
