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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

#261

Post by Ma8ee »

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’ve left about a third of my garden as a wild “meadow” and it has been full of flowers and bumblebees all summer. Even the municipality has left some lawns in the parks uncut for the benefit of wild flowers and bees. (Sweden btw)

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

#262

Post by vorpalhex »

hinkley wrote: post #198
teruakohatu wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-American I have never understood why a people that values personal liberties are sometimes happy to be dictated to by housing authorities. I get it with apartment buildings with shared walls and communal property, but I just don't get why you would with suburban homes.

If memory serves, Adam Ruins Everything thinks suburbia is about racism with a dash of classism. HOAs just seem to ratchet that up another notch.

Adam Ruins Everything also had an entire episode smearing the charity Toms Shoes. He goes an entire rant about how Tom's doesn't need to donate shoes because people in Africa can buy them if they need them - but he entirely leaves out that Toms donates custom made shoes for a specific medical condition (podoconiosis) that makes most shoes uncomfortable to wear.

There's nothing wrong with being skeptical or critical. There is everything wrong with selectively being critical and misrepresenting the situation.

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

#263

Post by flippinburgers »

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.

At the very least moss is beautiful. Personally I don't have a problem with "weeds" as Americans see them.

If covid ever lets up, you should try taking your wife on a trip to Japan. The moss in Japanese gardens is extraordinary!

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

#264

Post by minerjoe »

pkaye wrote: post #170
xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that these are not legal in most first world countries anymore -- I know they are banned in Canada and parts of Europe at least. It sounds like Germany is already on their way to banning glyphosate[0] 0: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/04/germany-...

So what is the recommended replacement for glyphosate?

For who? The home owner or big-ag? There is no replacement that doesn't entail more work, hense the massive resistance to change. Entitlement. Who cares about the bees if I have to change my behavior.

For the home owner, you can use alternatives like vinegar, or even better, manual removal of dandilions, etc. Entire towns have gone spray-free, but that requires a team of dedicated people out there in the parks removing.

For big-ag, they don't have a replacement. They are way too dependent.

It's like asking what is the replacement for petrolium. A whole lot of pain and much extra work.

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

#265

Post by Barrin92 »

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.

Home owner associations or your average American Beauty style dystopia is much rarer outside the US because people haven't voluntarily locked themselves into suburbia.

In Europe the middle class generally moves into cities and not out of them where you're for the most part left to your own devices rather than being bullied around by activist neighbours or your church parish or what have you. I mean just take a look at fiction, from Steven King's small town horror, to the Truman Show, or PK Dick, this sort of provincial clampdown on people is quite uniquely American. Between boyscouts and girlscouts and the cheerleading team there's not that much freedom left.

I noticed this most in my encounters with American college students abroad. They're like oversized children. It's quite striking how managed American life is. From school until the evening to clubs and on-campus living, into the nuclear family and then retirement in Florida.

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

#266

Post by kortilla »

dependenttypes wrote: post #231
thebradbain wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've personally never lived in an HOA (and would refuse to move into one), but the best ones, from what I've heard of through friends and family, are those that are hands-off, namely: 1) Optional -- This puts the onus on the HOA to actually serve its residents, because if enough people dislike it enough to leave (after, say, a few elected residents go on a power trip), it will collapse. 2) Give access to neighborhood…

The impressive thing is how HOAs are even legal.

Why are they impressive in that regard? You’re not forced to purchase a home that has legal obligations.

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

#267

Post by minerjoe »

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).

Why do you want apples on your trees, or squash in your garden. Better to give that up than to have to risk being stung.

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

#268

Post by hinkley »

mikepurvis wrote: post #213
msla wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adam Ruins Everything is inherently contrarian, to the point he doesn't have a show unless he's pouring some poison on something. This influences his "hot takes" to the point I doubt any of them are honest, and I wouldn't put it past him to make shit up.

Maybe, but it's hardly a unique take: "Critics of HOAs have attacked them as a “tool for exclusion” that can encourage racial segregation. There’s no available data on the race of the owners of each particular house, so Clarke and Freedman couldn’t test this accusation directly. But they did compare the racial demographics of neighborhoods with or without HOAs, and found that neighborhoods with HOAs tended to be rich…

A bit of advice that I got that seems to be rather applicable here:

As an ally, you should be on the lookout for rules that are being selectively enforced. These are a core tool of institutionalized discrimination.

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

#269

Post by vorpalhex »

teruakohatu wrote: post #187
giancarlostoro wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my case its the HOA that cares.

As a non-American I have never understood why a people that values personal liberties are sometimes happy to be dictated to by housing authorities. I get it with apartment buildings with shared walls and communal property, but I just don't get why you would with suburban homes.

An HOA is typically formed by people who live in the neighborhood to allow a housing development to represent itself as a single larger entity instead of several smaller ones.

Like any human collaboration they can be awesome or terrible. A good HOA can manage resources for ammenities like pools and sports courts, they can help homeowners settle disputes over things like fencing and street parking. Like many volunteer orgs, they're run by those willing to volunteer - which are not usually the most capable at the job.

At the end of the day HOAs do get a lot of heat because they often enforce community guidelines on things like mowing your lawn and not painting your garage door to be the nazi flag. Like anything, this is a tradeoff - you may want to run a ham antenna in your backyard and be told you're not allowed.

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

#270

Post by yks »

teruakohatu wrote: post #187
giancarlostoro wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my case its the HOA that cares.

As a non-American I have never understood why a people that values personal liberties are sometimes happy to be dictated to by housing authorities. I get it with apartment buildings with shared walls and communal property, but I just don't get why you would with suburban homes.

I wonder the same about zoning, can’t still wrap my head around it actually. Your neighbor dictating what you can or can’t do with your property is communism.
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