Restoring Darkness

Peter comes to us from Casambi, so naturally this one is all about controls. Now don’t glaze over all you astronomers and astrotourists, this is important. This is how we get to restore our night sky and still have the light at night that we need. Peter tells Michael and Mark that he has been involved in a project where a developer actually WANTED to give street light control to the end-user - the...

Highlights from this episode:  - Certifying Campgrounds  - A First for Wales  - Darkness Events  - A Bother in Bisei Sponsored by Evluma https://evluma.com/dark-sky-friendly-lighting/ Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle Headlines and Sources DSI Launches Approved Lodging Program https://darksky.org/news/pack-your-bags-the-darksky-approved-lodging-program-is-now-live/ Jonestown, TX Recognized as...

More and more satellites are going to obstruct the view for astronomers, but as Jo Marchant points out, it will also affect the cultural, spiritual and psychological aspects for everyone when they don’t have a clear view of the stars. Jo explains, in her book, The Human Cosmos: Civilisation and the Stars, how it is evident from ancient cave drawings that early man used the stars to mark the passag...

Highlights from this episode:  - Debunk the Blue?  - Protein Possibilities  - DLC LUNA 1.0a  -Rudolph’s Rhythms Sponsored by Evluma https://evluma.com/dark-sky-friendly-lighting/ Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle

Diane has been to Mars. That is, she crewed the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. It was there she turned her attention to Dark Sky advocacy. Diane is a lecturer in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. Lucky for Pittsburgh, Diane is helping to guide the city’s street light conversion to LED by, amon...

Highlights from this episode: Moths on the Run Birds on the Wing Lights on the Shard Trees in your House

Light pollution is harmful. Buddy Stefanoff is working on it - to the tune of about 5 years ahead of anybody else. Buddy and Crossroads LED are conscious of light trespass, color temperature, and shielding and so, have taken their design and manufacturing to the next level. Buddy demonstrates to Michael and special guest host, Greg Ehrich, some of the thermal dissipating and zero glare designs. He...

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." --Benjamin Franklin We think we’ve covered both bases in this episode. Jacqueline has written something worth reading, and The Lighting & Darkness Foundation and The Soft Lights Foundation are doing something worth writing about - or at least talking about. Michael and his new co-host, Mark Baker, chat with Jacqueline about...

Highlights from this episode: Bridge Lighting Blocking Fish Sea Turtle Records Light Pollution Bylaws on the Rise And the Award Goes To…

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 gon...

Highlights from the Darkness News are:  - Updates From DarkSky International  - Vision Charts  - Highway Disco  - Wasatch LDS Temple Update

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...

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...

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...

Highlights from the Darkness News are: -        The Royal Society Publications this Month -        LDS Project Updates -        Virginia Observatories vs Private Residents -        NASA’s Turtles

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...

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 willpowe...

Highlights from the darkness news are: -        Scientific Consensus -        1000 Bird Strikes in One Night -        Chile Restores Darkness -        Light Pollution is Brain Pollution

Highlights from the darkness news are: -        ALAN Linked with Breast Cancer -        France Powers Ahead on Night Conservation -        Border Protection Suspend Nature Protections -        Blue-Filtering Lenses Not Recommended 

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. Hann...

Highlights from the darkness news are:  - Charting New Harms of ALAN  - Speakers from Under One Sky  - Bird’s Eye Views Are Shrinking  - Pandas Get Jet-Lag

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 fir...

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 unnecessar...

Highlights from the darkness news world are:  - Night Shift Work is Bad for Your Memory  - Giving Insomnia to Molluscs and Rodents  - Circadian Lamps Go to Space  - Progress on a Petition to Change LED Headlights 

Highlights from the darkness news word are:  - Blue blocking lenses don't work  - Municipal governments leading on bird safety  - DarkSky's photo contest winners  - Holidays are visible from space