As Southwest Florida continues to rebuild after the onslaught of Hurricane Ian in September, we asked NBC2 viewers what they think could be done to make Southwest Florida a better place to live.
Catherine Hughes wrote:I remember when I was a kid in the early 80’s Cape Coral was so undeveloped that you could actually see all the stars at night. I feel sorry for the children who can’t see the same sky today.”
Seeing the vividness of the stars at night was something some people in Cape Coral said they noticed the night after the storm. light pollution, or extra nighttime artificial lighting was instantly eliminated. So instead of the sea of streetlights, business signs, floodlights, etc. that usually surrounds us, we were left with nothing but the stars shining above us.
from the image below NASA It shows the range of power loss in the region after Ian. The photo on the left is the illumination in August. The photo on the right is from September 30, 2022.
Interactive map: Where is light pollution the worst?
The night scene after Ian was also captured on camera by NBC2 viewer David Underwood. On the night after the storm, Underwood was able to photograph the Milky Way from Cape Coral’s front lawn, as seen below.
The astonishing beauty of what was above us after Ian might seem only possible during a massive blackout in other parts of Southwest Florida, miles away from the city, but it is. is not.
Tom Forsythe said, “Every cloudless night, that’s what we see.” Big Cypress National Reserve told NBC2.
Forsyth oversees a large reserve in Collier County, east of Naples. The reserve occupies an area roughly the size of the entire state of Rhode Island.
“If you’ve never seen the true night sky before, what you can see will amaze you,” Forsythe continued.
Connecting people to the sparkling sky is serious work for those who work at the reserve. They employ Conrad Proban. Conrad Provin is probably the coolest title you can find under the stars in Dark He’s a Skyranger.
As a Dark Sky Ranger at Big Cypress National Reserve, Provan uses telescopes and laser pointers to showcase his extensive knowledge of astronomy. Complimentary night sky viewing program at the reserve.
Related Links: Where can I see the night sky in Big Cypress National Reserve?
While Provan was working, he asked new viewers of the night sky what they were seeing, why they were looking at it, and how generations of people in cultures around the world used the night sky. You can hear his pride and joy as he explains what he has done. advantage.
But if you listen to Provan’s talk, you might realize that the best view of the stars is directly above, not sideways along the horizon. This is because the light bulge consumes space upwards from the tree line. Unlike all the starlight you see overhead, those domes of light come from Earth in the form of human-made over-illumination, or light pollution for short. Look, on the right is light pollution emitted from Naples and Marco Island. The wall of light on the left, just above the trees, is from Miami, which is over 60 miles east of where the photo is.
But if we can find a way to darken these domes of light pollution, Provan says, we could have the most accessible and pure night sky in the world.
“There are only a few places on earth with the clearest night skies. To get that view, you have to be in the middle of the Pacific or high in the Canadian Rockies,” said Provins.
However, it is difficult to reach places in the middle of the ocean or high in the mountains. South Florida, on the other hand, is uniquely positioned as a peninsula with roads like US41 and lookouts in places like Big Cypress National Conservation Area. With the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the west, and the Everglades to the south, the remote dome of light pollution across the local subway is no problem. This is a luxury not found elsewhere.
Big Cypress National Preserve Certified Dark Sky Association Park, does many little things that make a big difference in reducing light pollution from the reserve itself. Provan and Forsyth say the little things they do here can easily be replicated in anyone’s home or business.
As you walk through the reserve, you’ll find that all sidewalk lights are blocked. This will only emit light downwards instead of hitting it in all directions. This concentrates the light where you need it and prevents it from glowing upwards which doesn’t illuminate anything useful.
Parking lot lights within the reserve act more like motion-activated lights in front of a garage than the constant bright lights found in grocery stores and large shopping malls. It lights up at night but dims for long periods of time when no motion is detected nearby.
“They are also, as you might have noticed, a warmer color,” Provan said as we walked through the parking lot. It’s a tinge of yellow,” he continued.
An added benefit to the reserve with their choice of lighting is cost savings. This is an advantage also reported in Tucson, Arizona, a metropolitan area with a population of over 300,000, over Cape Coral, unlike the reserve.
When it comes to light pollution reduction in big cities, Tucson wins the gold star. Despite its size, the city made a concerted effort more than five years before him to work on making less light shine upwards, especially to benefit the astronomy community. A major feature of southern Arizona.
When the Tucson Light Pollution Reduction Project ended in 2018, the city replaced approximately 20,000 streetlights with LEDs and implemented a new streetlight timing system. The system turns on street lights at 90% capacity after sunset, reducing to 60% during off-peak hours in some areas. These measures, along with a Pima County ordinance requiring shielded lighting fixtures, have contributed to reduced energy use and an increase in the city’s bank accounts.
Garbriel Racson of the City of Tucson says that when the sun goes down, street lights in the city use 61% less energy than they used to. This leaves more money in the bank because Tucson taxpayers are spending half as much on their light bills than they did before the light mitigation efforts began.
Prior to the project, Tucson residents had spent $2.4 million on lighting, according to Rascon. Today, that figure is he’s $1.2 million. The annual savings help offset the initial investment in the city’s infrastructure, which totals $16 million.
Using less energy and spending less dollars to keep the streets lit at night isn’t the only benefit.Rascon told NBC2 via Zoom call from Arizona that police departments have also noticed benefits Told.
“There were times when it was difficult to tell the colors of the clothes and the cars, but I heard the LED lighting cleared everything up,” he said.
When considering the problem of light pollution, it is important not to turn streetlights into so-called “falling men.”They play a role in light pollution, but studies highlighted by NASA show that part of the pie is 20% or lessMost light pollution comes from other sources such as sports parks, homes, businesses and cars. This means that if city-led initiatives can reduce the problem of light pollution, much of the responsibility lies with individuals, the lights they buy, and how they are used.
Back in Big Cypress National Reserve, there’s an air of optimism. Despite Southwest Florida’s continued growth, people here believe that perceptions of light pollution will lead to meaningful change, even if he’s one lightbulb at a time.
“There’s more to our environment than just water and beaches,” said Forsythe Reserve Superintendent. “What I would like to say to officials of opportunity is that if we can create a master plan a certain way from the beginning, we can give everyone in the area a different quality of life.”
