341–350 of 481 posts
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I've used high lumen, hand-held lights to kill streetlights. I haven't found a spectrum of laser that works, yet.
https://petapixel.com/2015/02/19/a-laser-can-turn-off-street...
The cynic in me views this as yet another attempt at fethishizing nature by people who choose to live in sterile urban environments. The problem with this type of fetishization is that it eventually combines with class privilege to produce narrow public policy that seldom promotes the public good. Furthermore, those that live in less-urbanized less-sterile locales are painfully aware that nature and her army of insec…
That there are insects in some places doesn't mean the issues with insect, and general biodiversity loss suddenly disappears.
Bugs are everywhere, but there are species disappearing every at a rate much much higher than they should disappear for natural reasons.
There certainly are cases where fetishization can be part of it environmental policy, but usually it's then about something you can brag about, not about the impact light has on the sex life of bugs.
Even with the possible fetishization of nature, most people still don't care enough to be willing to lower their standard of living, even quite superficially. Generally, I would say cynicism regarding environmental policy is often misplaced, as even terribly inefficient policy makes the existence of the larger issue apparent, and opens the door to better and more informed policy the next time around.
Look at almost any are of legislation, the first plodding steps into a new area is often hilariously misplaced, or terribly expressed with the 20/20 of hindsight. Regardless, they were necessary steps. In some areas, biodiversity arguably one of them, the first plodding steps are taken just now. It's progress, if small.
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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…
I'm also in Chicago. I've noticed the same. We got those new LED street-lights last autumn and I was wondering if that had something to do with it.
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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'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…
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…
Germany saves the insects, China empties the oceans.
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…
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> What if I'd like to be able to see some stars from my bed? "My comfort should trump everyone's safety"? Still no.
And the cars you spoke of are stealthed, running dark, or what? /me shakes head and thinks "Here is your sign! Hold it!"
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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...
Posts like this are really disappointing to me. I come to hacker news to read about technology and startups. If I wanted to read about general news topics (bees, insects, glyphosate, general monsanto hate, etc...) I would frequent google news, CNN, or reddit.