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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

#51

Post by ashtonkem »

masswerk wrote: post #49
ashtonkem wrote: post #26

This 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.

We can and certainly should fiddle around with different LED colors, to balance our need for illumination against the risk of environmental harm.

Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects

#52

Post by pvaldes »

Ironically this would create a better surveillance net. With a high light in the background you obtain black silhouettes. With low or none light in the background UV cameras are perfectly able to take photos in pitch black, and a low level of light gave you faces of the suspects instead.

So perhaps, maybe, "speculation in action", this is not only useful or exclusively about insects

Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects

#53

Post by Dahoon »

burlesona wrote: post #29
thiago_fm wrote: post #10

I wonder how many centuries it might take for the US to start to care about insects or the environment like some European countries do with the recent regress in policies overall that isn't about ONLY increasing overall GDP in the US. And I say this even not considering Trump, which is a big menace. But democrat candidates in the US also don't care about the environment, not showing much promise. So do the Americans…

I often hear Europeans make sweeping judgements about the US that reflect a lack of understanding of the country and continent. In part I think this is because most visitors from abroad only travel to NYC, SF, or LA, which are great cities, but not representative of the majority of the country. Incredible as this may sound, around half of the US land area is completely uninhabited. Fully 1/3 of the land is owned by t…

You can't compare landmass versus landmass but only the behaviour of people in different places. It makes no difference if you live in a big city in China or in the middle of nowhere in the US on how big a polluter you are when driving your car. The same car is the same car everywhere. It is the same earth we are all on and we share the same air so how much uninhabited land there are is completely irrelevant. Borders doesn't contain pollution. So yes, driving a big SUV is most definitely a sign of not caring about pollution and not "but X is different than Y". Even those who "need a big 4x4" mostly don't. A small 4x4 is often way better in terrain while polluting less.

Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects

#56

Post by hn_check »

linuxftw wrote: post #46
thatguy0900 wrote: post #16

I 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 hat…

Plenty of fireflies in my yard. As prevalent as ever [1]. This is just an anecdote, but I give that anecdote as another person who lives in a somewhat rural location.

Speaking of the lady bug explosion, this year they are incredibly rare [2]. Not sure why, but they went from being a massive nuisance to being a very rare sight (of any variety).

Humans are absolutely having a calamitous effect on insect life in a variety of dimensions, however on the flip side it does seem like insect populations massively fluctuate for entirely natural reasons. A bit of an early summer, or more rain in April, etc, and one insect type explodes and another wanes.

1 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24071745

2 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24071745

Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects

#57

Post by marviel »

masswerk wrote: post #49
ashtonkem wrote: post #26

This 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.

Can you explain what you mean about the risks of cold LED light? I'm unfamiliar with this problem

Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects

#58

Post by tijuco2 »

thiago_fm wrote: post #10

I wonder how many centuries it might take for the US to start to care about insects or the environment like some European countries do with the recent regress in policies overall that isn't about ONLY increasing overall GDP in the US. And I say this even not considering Trump, which is a big menace. But democrat candidates in the US also don't care about the environment, not showing much promise. So do the Americans…

Have you been to US? I visited some states and I'm now living in Massachusetts for a little more than three years. I've never seen so much green in my life like see here in the US. It's beautiful. The article doesn't mention security measurements that will be taken in order to keep security levels where it is.

Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects

#59

Post by auganov »

What's the benefit for humans and why can't it be done any other way?

I'm not a big fan of encountering insects. Very weird to see someone would actually want to protect them in cities.

> Light traps for insects are to be banned outdoors

So you won't be able to kill mosquitoes outside?

Re: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects

#60

Post by aeyes »

cheez wrote: post #13
42droids wrote: post #12

German side streets are fairly dark already. This change will affect ‘large’ polluters, eg. floodlights in car parks, outside store areas, brightly lit buildings, etc. It is a very welcomed change. In our neighbourhood ppl knowingly plant flowers and leave grass grow ‘wild’ to support insects.

I do this too but I get bylaw visits from the city. Which cities?

Search for wildflower seed bomb mix, you shouldn't get in trouble for this. My mom used to do this every year when I lived in Germany, looks pretty and zero maintenance.
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