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The earth needs darkness as much as it needs light.
But human light pollution is pushing back the darkness, changing the natural world and potentially harming us too.
The guests
Johann Ekloff, scientist, bat researcher.author of The Darkness Manifesto: Light Pollution, Nocturnal Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms That Sustain Life.
Also recommended
Emily Forberta researcher at the University of Melbourne studying the effects of light pollution on marine species.
Jeff Gone’sVisitor Services Supervisor for Caplin Volcanic National Monument in New Mexico, a certified Dark Sky Park.
Keith Krugera resident and citizen scientist in Pinal County, Arizona, whose neighborhood has no streetlights.
Casey RodriguezDark Sky Defenders in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Zach ThompsonDark Sky Advocate for the International Dark Sky Association in Lincoln, Nebraska.
interview highlights
On the inspiration for The Darkness Manifesto
“I’m often confused with this guy in Stockholm. He has the same name as me, but he’s a marine biologist. … He e-mailed me the other day and said, ‘Hey everyone I’ve been doing bat research for 25 years, and I’ve been out at night a lot, and a few years ago, at least here in Sweden, it was often seen in church. And in the 90’s all the churches started using floodlights too.Well, we’ve seen church buildings that are hundreds and thousands of years old.
“And of course the municipality wants these buildings to show off, so they’re installing floodlights. It turns out that they either starve to death, which means that after 30 years, half of the bats in the church have actually disappeared. , I thought, it’s not even about killing bats, it’s about killing the night, and that has to mean something, animals, plants, and yourself.So about darkness. I started writing a book about
On Human Necessity of Darkness
“There’s something in the night sky that you probably don’t realize we miss every day. But come to think of it, we want to see these stars. There are a lot of them. …and somehow, This ties us to history, to our ancestors who saw the same stars and things like that. There are so many other things in the darkness that actually need it.”
Related Documents
journal of ecology: “Ecological effects of artificial light at night on wild plants”—“Plants use light as both a source of energy and information. The physiological response of plants to light, and the interactions between plants and animals (such as herbivory and pollination), depend on the 24-hour period of light and darkness.” It has evolved under a more or less stable regime of cycles.Long.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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