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Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects
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Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Some European countries, named here, only very recently cared more about insects than people. How is it "more about than"? What are the costs to people by mandating dimming the light?
> What are the costs to people by mandating dimming the light? It makes it harder to see at night.
That’s not really “more than”, is it? You need to weigh the size of the benefit with the amount of convenience.
Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do this too but I get bylaw visits from the city. Which cities?
Dresden. Don’t get me wrong the gardens are neat but ppl keep longer grass, bushes, lots of flowers. Don’t know much about the laws in Germany (only recently moved here) but I can see that ppl care about their environment.
OK thanks.
Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects
#44Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects
#45Do they have any places outside of cities and towns that these insects might thrive in Germany?
Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects
#46I actually was sitting outside a few nights ago and realized that there was no more fireflies, and I couldn't remember the last time I had seen one. I used to go out all the time during summer as a kid to catch them, they would light up whole fields. That was just like 15 years ago. Pretty sobering realization
Used to be 100's or 1000's of them during the peak in summer where I lived. Now it's a handful. This is out in a rural area, so urban lighting doesn't explain the decline.
If I had to wager money, I'd say it was a blight introduced by another insect. Around the same year I saw an invasion of Asian lady bugs, the firefly memories stop. There were literally millions and millions of those Asian lady bugs released or hatched one year.
Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amen. I would kill for this. I keep my own outside lights off, so there's a bit less blindy light pollution on my end of the street. It's the same reason I never report the nearby street lights when they go out. The best outdoor light is less.
Ahem... I seem to recall that the masts of most streetlights are rather thin. Which meant that one could kick them a few times in ways that make the mast swing. Which could be rather large and abrupt swings at the top, which led to "Wackelkontakt"/ loss of contact, and thus darkness. It was even reversible! Your own personal kick switch for public street lights!
I've used high lumen, hand-held lights to kill streetlights. I haven't found a spectrum of laser that works, yet.
Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects
#48I always wonder how much of the reduction in cleaning of glass can be attributed to better aerodynamics and better glass.
Motor cyclists and bicyclists tell the same. I as a bicyclist do too. Because apart from the sting of the wind in the eyes it was necessary to drive with sports glasses/lenses/some visor because otherwise you'd be almost certainly hit by insects in the face or eye. That isn't the case anymore. There simply are less of them in the air.
Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects
#49This is good; we've badly underestimated the cost of excess light pollution. Also good is using more LED street lamps that focus the light where we need it, rather than all over the place. Light pollution is bad, and street lights are very power hungry, with the old sodium lights consuming up to 0.25kWh per hour.
Actually, cold LED light is part of the problem. Better focusing only mitigates the problem they are posing.
Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects
#50I actually was sitting outside a few nights ago and realized that there was no more fireflies, and I couldn't remember the last time I had seen one. I used to go out all the time during summer as a kid to catch them, they would light up whole fields. That was just like 15 years ago. Pretty sobering realization
Fireflies get killed by insecticides used for mosquitoes