Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects • Hacker News Board

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

#221

Post by mixmastamyk » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 6:02 PM UTC

GordonS wrote: post #135

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…

I never going the obsession with pristine lawns without clover, daisies, moss and such. I actually think it looks quite nice with some variation. My wife is militant about this, insisting that our lawn is sprayed with horrible chemicals at least once a year to kill off the clover, daisies and moss. Seems such a pointless thing to do, and very obviously not good for wildlife.

Why would someone insist on it? Seems like an odd thing to be focused on.

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

#222

Post by elwell » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 6:02 PM UTC

foepys wrote: post #182

rspoerri wrote: post #15

Do you remember the time when you had to clean your windshield after driving into holidays?

Cars are actually more aerodynamically shaped nowadays. But riding a motorcycle will give you the same result today as 20 years ago. To which I must say: yes, the insects seem to be back in larger numbers this year. At least in Germany. But not everywhere: the less farm land, the more insects. Like, from literally none on farm land to "I have to completely clean my helmet because of all that yellow goo" in larger for…

> The research also found that modern cars, with a more aerodynamic body shape, killed more insects than boxier vintage cars up to 70 years old.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windshield_phenomenon#United_K...

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

#223

Post by OkGoDoIt » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 6:03 PM UTC

rspoerri wrote: post #15

Do you remember the time when you had to clean your windshield after driving into holidays?

I did a one week roadtrip from California to Colorado this summer and had to clean my windshield at every gas station due to splattered bugs. It’s my first real roadtrip so I don’t have any basis for comparison.

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

#224

Post by adrianN » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 6:04 PM UTC

product50 wrote: post #206

pradn wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans only seem to value freedom from government interference in their lives. There's far more control from schools, universities, workplaces, and HOAs. Many rights like freedom of speech are curtailed in schools and workspaces, for example.

You are talking as if somehow non-Americans have access to more liberties across non-government entities in their lives. If anything, Americans treasure and enjoy the most freedoms across the widest gamut of institutions vs. non Americans.

Germans for example have an expectation of privacy at the workplace. It's not allowed to monitor a German employee's web browsing on a work computer. In the US the employer can monitor them all they want.

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

#225

Post by cmrdporcupine » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 6:06 PM UTC

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...

Maybe, but last year was wet and cool, this year heat wave and drought. The great lakes are still up near their record water levels though (after last year and the year before), whereas a few years ago they were at record lows.

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

#226

Post by pradn » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 6:07 PM UTC

product50 wrote: post #206

pradn wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans only seem to value freedom from government interference in their lives. There's far more control from schools, universities, workplaces, and HOAs. Many rights like freedom of speech are curtailed in schools and workspaces, for example.

You are talking as if somehow non-Americans have access to more liberties across non-government entities in their lives. If anything, Americans treasure and enjoy the most freedoms across the widest gamut of institutions vs. non Americans.

People in other countries are sometimes less burdened by interference from non-governmental organizations. Countries with strong unions offer workers freedom from the worst of workplace strictures - think the right to assemble or to speak out against your employer or blow a whistle without being fired. Most countries don't have HOAs and far fewer rules around how you can build and maintain your own house. You can paint your house bright pink in most places in India and no one will stop you.

The American body politic's focus on rights as the defining feature of the social contract isn't shared everywhere else. For example, in many countries, the focus is on the material benefits the government can provide for you ("development"). And because of that, there's less reflexive distrust in government as an institution able to benefit your life, in principle. Parts of the American citizenry absolve themselves of the expectation that government can, even in principle, improve your life.

America is living in the long 18th century - Enlightenment liberalism worked out over three centuries.

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

#227

Post by cmrdporcupine » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 6:08 PM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #158

nashalo_nighly wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

In the upper st lawrence / great lakes basin it's really becoming more and more erratic. More ice storms, more drastic swings in the winter, lower snowfall some years, more droughts in some summers, more record rainfalls in others, etc. It's a recognizable change even in the 25 years I've lived here.

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

#228

Post by efa » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 6:08 PM UTC

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.

North Korea must be swimming in insects. https://i.imgur.com/S1mrMKN.jpg

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

#229

Post by hinkley » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 6:08 PM UTC

bluntfang wrote: post #148

azinman2 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you not dig it up?

I think that's going to be part of my plan, but my housemate is extremely sensitive/allergic, so if I can avoid getting near the plant that would be awesome.

Do you have a way to get a lot of newspaper or large format cardboard? If the former, look up Morag Gamble, the latter, sheet mulching. Weed barriers will buy you a few years and then need to be dug up. Cardboard or paper biodegrade in a year (an extra thick layer of wood chips extends the effective period), so nothing to dig up and no microplastics.

Weeds are opportunists. They tend to grow where other things don't want to. Better soil will invite other things in besides weeds.

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

#230

Post by baix777 » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 6:08 PM UTC

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…

Clover is great for lawn health as it fixes (adds) nitrogen to the soil.

Before the widespread use of herbicides having some clover in the lawn was viewed as a good thing because of this. Lawn seeds even included a bit of clover.

When herbicides came out that killed clover as a side effect then we saw people saying (marketing) that clover is bad.