Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects

msn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 481 posts

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

#151

Post by Ma8ee »

wenc wrote: post #86
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

I'm in Chicago (in a neighborhood close to downtown) and in previous years I'd hardly ever seen any fireflies. This year, they're everywhere -- in parks and even in trees on neighborhood streets. I understand fireflies are sensitive to light pollution. I can't imagine Chicago's any different from other major cities. COVID has people staying home a lot more but that has nothing to do with street lighting. I wonder wha…

Ecosystems are delicate and fragile. But if you destroy one, there’s a good chance it very soon will be replaced with a new one, where the new niches are occupied by different species. At first it will be species that that aren’t very specialised, like rats and cockroaches. But after just a few million years you might have something as diverse and rich as the system you destroyed.

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

#153

Post by boudin »

rubber_duck wrote: post #143
zackmorris wrote: post #109

The best thing we can do on a personal level is to stop using broadleaf weedkillers like Scott's Weed and Feed and other herbicides like glyphosate (Roundup). I've been doing handyman work at my boss's house during COVID-19 and he has clover growing in his yard. He has a fair number of bees, certainly more than on my end of town which is all chemlawns. It's arguably ok to use a little weed killer by hand on dandelion…

>has led to the near-extinction of bees in residential areas Why do you want bees in residential areas ? I think that it's illegal to keep bees in some proximity to residential areas around here (my grandparents used to keep bees).

Most bees do not lives in hives and are solitary (they tend to live in bushes, walls, trees or in the ground). They don't even sting.

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

#155

Post by formerly_proven »

LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #18
WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #5

Earlier 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!

The way that ("Lampen austreten") works is because the vibration causes the plasma to "disembark" from the electrodes, which opens the electrical circuit, which prevents further power flow into the lamp, which lets the plasma cool down quickly. There's a thermal cutoff switch in the lamp that prevents it from re-igniting on a hot lamp, so the entire lamp needs to cool down before it turns back on.

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

#156

Post by fwsgonzo »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #150

Wow. I have to say that I have never considered the case where insects needed to be saved. It seems to me that as lifeforms go, they have been the most durable form of multi-cellular life on the planet. That said, that there are negative systemic effects on the planet's ecosystems that are directly related to the massive production and use of herbicides and pesticides is not as surprising. Light though? Even after re…

It very well could be less of a problem than roundup, but at the same time it's good for everyone I think, that we turn off the lights at night. If only to see the stars.

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

#157

Post by hanniabu »

bluntfang wrote: post #118
zackmorris wrote: post #109

The best thing we can do on a personal level is to stop using broadleaf weedkillers like Scott's Weed and Feed and other herbicides like glyphosate (Roundup). I've been doing handyman work at my boss's house during COVID-19 and he has clover growing in his yard. He has a fair number of bees, certainly more than on my end of town which is all chemlawns. It's arguably ok to use a little weed killer by hand on dandelion…

any suggestions for a poison ivy patch? I'm doing the rounds of vinegar and placing tarps/boxes over the area, trying to avoid the nuclear option.

1) Trim what you can

2) Dig up what you can

3) See if you can find a syringe so that you can actually inject vinegar directly into whatever is left. Apply as close to the root as possible.

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

#158

Post by Wowfunhappy »

nashalo_nighly wrote: post #107
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We live rural southern Ontario and fireflies are usually just a single weekend or so at the end of June or beginning of July. But this year they went on for almost two months. They only just stopped about a week ago. I'm not sure why it was a good season for them. Like you say, traffic, lighting, pesticide sprays on farms, all really the same despite COVID. Reduced air traffic I don't think would have an affect? Even…

I feel that I hear people say « we’re having a unusually hot dry year » every year...

Well, we really are in many parts of the world due to Climate Change. If it keeps getting worse, it's always unusual compared to the past...

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

#159

Post by mattbk1 »

luckylion wrote: post #62
LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

That's a good way to get in trouble, and rightfully so. We're not having streetlights because we want to kill insects, we have them for safety reasons. You do not want to travel in absolute darkness in a city with cars around. Trying to interfere with that because you're too lazy to buy a black-out curtain is a terrible idea.

Cars have headlights.

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

#160

Post by mattbk1 »

kaybe wrote: post #117
k__ wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I had a big orange street lamp hanging right in front of my bedroom for years.

In Germany you can generally call the city office and complain and they will put some metal there to block the light from falling into your house. It might be an option in other locations as well.

We were able to do that for an alley light here in small-town Minnesota USA.
Post reply on HN