The Darkness Manifesto: How light pollution threatens the ancient rhythms of life

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Aan te raden boek over een ‘onderbelicht’ thema;) Legt de vinger op de grootste wondes, maar boek blijft relatief oppervlakkig en ietwat herhalend. Als inleidend werk zeker het lezen waard!

From bats to bees, from songbirds to seals, Eklöf takes us on a trip to diverse corners of the animal and plant kingdoms. Through his fluid and easy-to-follow writing, we learn how important an unpolluted night sky is to each organism. In many ways this was the charm of the book. It is cross-cutting in terms of its scientific disciplines, but in a way that delves further than my scope. The examination of the physics of light blends into the structure of the eye. Yes, we did this school. But what about the development of sight in other ways, and the adaptations of human eyesight to low levels? We’re now a few months into that time of year made up of depressingly short days swamped by endlessly long nights. Despite the December festivities, for many, ‘tis simply the season of long shadows and dreary darkness. It’s more than valid to be feeling anything but jolly.Today, we are blinded to the spectacular sweep of the cosmos by the light we invented; “only a fragment, half a per cent” of the stars once plain is now typically seen. Skies untainted by light pollution are rare. However, if you find yourself on a dark night in Nevada’s Death Valley, the Milky Way will be so bright that it will cast shadows. You will be able to behold the most distant object in space that is perceivable without a telescope. Light from this Triangulum Galaxy will have started its journey across 3 million light years to you, “at the same time as the birth of our own genus, Homo”. Of het nou lantaarns op Durgarden, verlichte olieplatforms op zee, hotels in Las Vegas of lantaarnpalen op de parkeer-plaats bij school zin, lichtvervuiling beinvloedt een van de fundamenteelste mechanismen van de mens: zin innerlike klok. Het dag- en nachtritme van alle wezens op aarde verandert als het licht vierentwintig uur per etmaal aanstaat. Research shows that badly directed and unnecessarily strong lights in Europe and the US are equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 20 million cars.’ I’d like the citation, please…. This question about population control is meaningful to me, and it helped me come to this conclusion: Because we are fighting for and with one another, environmental coalition-building is rooted in the question of what we owe to one another, and to the place that gives us the opportunity to owe things to one another in the first place.

In this persuasive, well-researched book, Swedish conservationist Johan Eklöf urges us to appreciate natural darkness, its creatures, and its unique benefits. Eklöf ponders the beauties of the night sky, traces the errant paths of light-drunk moths and the swift dives of keen-eyed owls, and shows us the bioluminescent creatures of the deepest oceans. As a devoted friend of the night, he writes passionately about the startling damage we inflict on ourselves and our fellow creatures simply by keeping the lights on.It is altogether natural, and exactly like many other fears and reactions, it has a survival value. Our sense of sight adapts so that we see decently in the dark, but slowly. It takes at least half an hour for the right pigment to build up in our eyes when the daylight’s bombardment of photons has begun to decrease, and a little while more before we reach our maximum light sensitivity, before we can orient ourselves in the dark. And the heightened sensitivity to darkness can be undone in an instant. Unfortunately, such abundance of unnatural light is turning out to be not so brilliant after all. Swedish naturalist, Johan Eklöf, is an expert on night ecology. The term “light pollution” was invented by astronomers, but he tells us it now also designates a major factor in species extinction. “Human beings have extended their day,” he says, “and at the same time they have forced out the night’s inhabitants.”

Given the energy crisis it’s interesting to note that lighting makes up a tenth of our global energy usage. And it’s ripe for being made more efficient given that most exterior light is either unnecessary, too bright, the wrong colour or badly directed, spilling out and up into the sky. Eklöf quotes one study which shows that emissions from inefficient lighting in Europe and the US could be equivalent to that of 20 million cars. A Chinese plan to send an artificial moon into orbit to light the city of Chengdu all night every night might save energy, but would be catastrophic for the natural world. France has now passed legislation on light pollution, aiming to regulate everything from brightness, timing, colour and temperature to the use of screens and shades. Compliance will be mandatory by the start of 2025; it must be hoped that other countries follow suit. Though the book is written as a sort of Silent Spring manifesto against the ecological devastations of light pollution, its considerable charm depends on the encyclopedic intensity with which he evokes the hidden creatures of the night. . . . Eklöf’s book is made most memorable by the sometimes wild eccentricities of the life-forms it chronicles.” —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker Eklöf concludes his book, both with a warning that time is running out, but also with a list of easy steps to begin to change our cultural relationship with darkness. ‘The question is how much time we have to act. Many of the animals that live under the protection of darkness are on the verge of extinction and with them their invaluable services: pollinating insects, pest-hunting bats. Meanwhile, we humans have ever-worsening sleep and plants are ageing prematurely.’ About 40 per cent of insect species are now at risk of extinction, with moths the hardest hit – particularly those in urban areas. Studies have found that moths’ hearing is less attuned to bats’ ultrasound when under streetlights, making them easy prey. The reason? They think it’s daylight, when birds are the greater danger: they’re alert for the wrong type of predator. The light bulb - long the symbol of progress - needs to be turned off. To ensure a bright future, we must embrace the darkness. About This Edition ISBN:

We’re used to hearing about the catastrophic effects of carbon dioxide emissions, deforestation, environmental toxins from industrial agriculture, the plastic in our oceans and our organs, and so on. We hear far less about light pollution. It’s a dangerously under-recognised horseman of the environmental apocalypse. The spread of light pollution has not only inhibited our view of the stars, but has had a catastrophic impact on biodiversity and marine life. In recent years, we have had repeated messages of the massive decline of insect life and Eklöf does not shy away from blaming humans. ‘Today, about 40 per cent of all insect species are threatened with extinction ...shows that we’re moving towards the earth’s sixth mass extinction. And humanity is the cause.’ He does accept though that there could be a multitude of reasons for the huge decline in biodiversity, but aims to raise awareness of the impact of artificial, or human created, light. ‘The number of insects is decreasing. The reasons for insect death are many, from urbanisation and global warming to insecticides, large-scale farming, monoculture and disappearing forests. Probably all these factors play a role. But to everyone who’s ever seen an insect react to light, it is obvious that light pollution is a major cause.’ With half of the insects on the planet being nocturnal, Eklöf urges that there needs to be a re-balancing of priorities between species and that human wishes should not be paramount. ‘The more attention on the impact of light in ecological systems and our own well-being, the closer we’ll get to reconciling society’s need for light with nature’s need for darkness.’ As animals and insects feel safe in the darkness and seek its protection, it seems that humans are attempting to drown it out entirely in light, as we feel safe in the light instead. Eklöf draws attention to our religious mythology that light triumphed over darkness where chaos and uncertainty reigned and uses the Christian origin story in Genesis as an example of the historical and cultural acceptance and need that darkness must be conquered. ‘Human beings have extended their day, and at the same time have forced out the night’s inhabitants.’ We have done this to such an extent that we have changed our planet’s appearance from space- an understanding that we only recognised in the late 20th century. ‘Humanity’s desire to illuminate the world makes the earth, viewed from space, glow in the night.’ Tietokirjassa itseä hämmentää usein minä-muodon käyttäminen ja kirjailija omakohtaiset kokemukset - niin tälläkin kertaa. Pääosin ensimmäisen persoonan käyttö oli perusteltua kirjailijan tekemistä tutkimuksista kerrottaessa, mutta se että kirja alkoi hyvin fiktiomaisesti ja kirjaimellisesti ensimmäisessä sanassa oli persoonapääte, latisti tavallaan vaikutelmaa tieteellisestä teoksesta heti alkuunsa. Eye-opening and ultimately encouraging, The Darkness Manifesto offers simple steps that can benefit ourselves and the planet.