September 2026: Solar Days, Light Pollution News

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This Episode:

Hi there you at home, thrilled to have you with us yet again. This month, I’m joined by plant phenology ecologist, Dr. Lin Meng; a man with too many interests to mention, Dr. John Barentine; and Remote Sensing guru Dr. Zhe Zhu.

This episode – pick your side! Is it the Sunshine Protection Act or the Sunshine For Our Kids Act? Breckenridge gets serious about enforcing its lighting ordinance, we’ll see how that turns out. And, does light pollution make allergies worse!?

All this and much more today on this episode of Light Pollution News!

Host:

Guests:

John Barentine

John Barentine is an astronomer, historian, author, science communicator, and dark-sky consultant. He earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Texas and is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the International Astronomical Union, and the Royal Astronomical Society. His interests include history, politics, and law.

Lin Meng

Dr. Lin Meng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Vanderbilt University. As a global change ecologist, she studies how human activities affect urban ecosystems and how cities can become healthier and more sustainable. Her research has shown that urban heat and light pollution can alter the seasonal rhythms of trees, leading to earlier spring growth, later leaf fall, longer pollen seasons, and higher pollen allergy risk. Her work helps connect changes in the urban environment with their consequences for both ecosystem health and human well-being.

Zhe Zhu

Associate Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, and the Founding Director of the Global Environmental Remote Sensing (GERS) Laboratory. A member of the NASA Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) Science Group, LP DAAC User Working Group, NASA Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Science Team, and NASA Black Marble Science Team, the USGS-NASA Landsat Science Team (2018-2023), and the author of the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCAS) on Land Cover and Land-Use Change for U.S. Global Change Research Program. The Associate Editor and Special Editor of Remote Sensing of Environment and Science of Remote Sensing.

Full Article List:

1. A Big Government Decision Could Change Theme Parks Forever, Erica Lauren, Inside the Magic.
2. Nighttime light exposure is associated with metabolic dysfunction in schizophrenia: A cross-sectional analysis of the LENS study, SLEEP.
3. Artificial light at night extends pollen season and elevates allergen exposure, PNAS Nexus.
4. Artificial light at night disrupts nocturnal pollination of alpine plants with species-specific effects, Journal Of Plant Ecology.
5. Glow-worms introduced to new South Downs site to benefit from dark skies, Radio News Hub.
6. Fireflies score a win in Rockport, The Boston Globe
7. Breckenridge’s dark night skies are dreamy — but they come at a cost, Emma VandenEinde, MarketPlace.
8. Conservation group praises new Kentucky law requiring crops be shielded from lights on state roads, Derek Operle, WKMS.
9. Environmental Orgs Say Space-Based Data Centers Could Violate Federal Law, Ece Yildirim, Gizmodo.
10. Scientists say Elon Musk’s orbital data centers could blind Earth’s biggest telescopes, Fast Company.
11. SpaceX vaporizes 260 Starlink satellites in six months using Earth’s atmosphere, Tom’s Hardware.
12. Every SpaceX Starlink satellite has to dodge a collision almost weekly, and experts fear the worst, Space.

Light Pollution News: September Highlights

Permanent Daylight Saving Time Could Gut Nighttime Programming at Disney World and Universal Orlando

A report from Inside the Magic, authored by Erica Lauren, warns that if Daylight Saving Time is made permanent, theme parks like Disney World and Universal Orlando would lose most of their dark-sky nighttime programming window. Events built around nighttime theatrics, including Disney World’s Christmas party, Jollywood Nights, and the International Festival of Lights, rely on fireworks and projection shows that need real darkness to work. Under permanent Daylight Saving Time, parks would have only about 2.5 hours of usable nighttime programming unless they extend closing to 10pm, while early-arriving guests would be entering before a 7am sunrise.

Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 Clears the House, Stalls in the Senate

The Sunshine Protection Act of 2025, which would make Daylight Saving Time permanent nationwide by amending the Uniform Time Act of 1966, passed the House of Representatives on July 14, 2026 by a wide bipartisan margin. The bill was sponsored by Florida Representative Vern Buchanan and Senator Rick Scott and is backed by President Donald Trump, but as of this recording it remains stalled in the Senate, which does not currently have the votes to advance it. Days before the House vote, the competing Sunshine for Our Kids Act was introduced as a push toward permanent Standard Time instead.

History Repeats: The Failed 1973 Nixon-Era Attempt at Permanent Daylight Saving Time

The current push for permanent Daylight Saving Time echoes the Nixon administration’s 1973 Time Energy Conservation Act, passed to reduce U.S. dependence on Arab oil during the energy crisis. The switch initially carried high public approval, but as northern latitudes faced sunrises as late as 9am, public support collapsed, and the policy was reversed roughly ten months later, before the following winter.

Convenience Stores, Retailers, and Golf Courses Are the Main Lobbying Forces Behind Permanent Daylight Saving Time

Historically, the push for permanent Daylight Saving Time has been driven by three main lobbying groups: the National Association of Convenience Stores, the National Retail Federation, and the National Golf Course Owners Association. The golf industry group has argued that making Standard Time permanent instead would be an economic blow to golf, since extra evening daylight is more conducive to outdoor recreation than extra morning daylight.

New Study Links Artificial Light at Night to Earlier, Longer, and More Severe Pollen Seasons

Building on that earlier work, areas with higher levels of artificial light at night experienced pollen seasons that began roughly 20 days earlier and extended well past those in areas with low light pollution. The study also found that 27% of pollen season days in light-polluted areas were classified as severe, compared to 17% of days in areas with low light pollution levels.

Tibetan Plateau Field Study Shows Streetlight Exposure Sharply Cuts Pollination in an Outcrossing Plant Species

A study published in Plant Ecology examined two flowering plant species in a Tibetan Plateau meadow using five paired lit and unlit plots designed to simulate LED streetlight exposure between 7:30pm and 5:30am, tracked over four summer nights using cameras and night vision equipment. For the plant species reliant on outside pollination, nighttime pollinators normally contributed 27% of total pollen and about a third of seed production, with moths making up nearly three-quarters of nighttime insect visitors; under artificial light, moth visits dropped by almost 50%, pollen delivery fell by 54%, and successful seed maturation fell by 56%. A second, partially self-pollinating plant species, which draws about 65% of its pollination from self-pollination and the remainder from daytime bees and flies, showed no nighttime insect visitation and no measurable impact from artificial light at night.

Breckenridge’s 19-Year Dark Sky Lighting Ordinance Saga Reaches Enforcement

Despite having 19 years to comply, Breckenridge business and property owners are facing significant costs to meet the town’s exterior lighting ordinance, according to Marketplace. One business owner spent around $8,000 upgrading his shop and apartment building’s fixtures, and business owner Turk Montepare told the outlet that the biggest challenge was finding compliant fixtures at all, noting that even Home Depot wasn’t much help.

Kentucky’s House Bill 571 Requires Shielding on Highway Lights to Protect Farmland

Kentucky House Bill 571, sponsored by Republican Representative Kim Holloway, took effect July 15, requiring the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to shield highway lighting to prevent light spill onto farmland used for crops like soybeans and for cattle grazing. Farmers can file a written complaint about existing lights, and the Cabinet has 30 days to address it; according to WKMS, retrofitting a single intersection with mitigation measures like cobra-head fixtures in place of light towers can cost around $400,000.

Dark Sky International and Environmental Groups Petition FCC for Environmental Review of Satellite Megaconstellations

On July 8th, Dark Sky International, Environmental America, and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a petition asking the Federal Communications Commission to conduct an environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act of proposed orbital data center satellite constellations. The petition specifically names Blue Origin’s 51,600-satellite Project Sunrise and the Cowboy Space 20,000-satellite data center proposal, alongside broader concerns about other large satellite systems such as AST Mobile’s BlueBird constellation, believed to include some of the largest satellites in low Earth orbit.

SpaceX Deorbiting and Environmental and Collision Concerns

SpaceX disposed of 260 Starlink satellites through controlled atmospheric burn-up between December 2025 and May 2026, raising questions about the cumulative atmospheric effects of routine satellite deorbiting as the practice scales up. Separately, SpaceX disclosed that Starlink satellites executed more than 355,000 collision avoidance maneuvers over the past year, including over 207,000 maneuvers between December 2025 and May 2026 alone, averaging more than 40 maneuvers per satellite over that year-long period.

Light Pollution News: September Read Along

I like to start off shows, especially with new guests who may be unfamiliar with the format of this show, with some fun conversational pieces. I’ve stayed away from the daylight saving time v standard time debate…if you can really call it that. From my vantage it’s a lot of commerce groups trying to advance daylight saving time under the idea that it if you have more late day light, people will frequent restaurants more in winter months. I’m not sure I buy that, the science, of course argues the opposite direction, but pfw, scientists, who listens to you guys these days!

So I was shocked when I read this piece from Inside the Magic. According to them, theme parks face a very real threat from a permanent Daylight Saving Time. And I bet you never thought of this. Places like Disney and Universal built a whole half of the year around the dark canvas. Disney World’s Christmas party, Jollywood Nights and the International Festival of Lights all utilize nighttime theatrics including “fireworks and projection shows.”

The author, Erica Lauren, points out that should Daylight Saving Time be made permanent, the park will only have 2.5 hours of nighttime programming available, that is unless they extend hours to 10pm (they currently close at 9pm). And the early daytime arrivals would check into the park before sunrise at 7AM!

The root issue here is that in the United States, Congress, god bless their souls, has the authority to outlaw time change by updating the Uniform Time Act of 1966. And, oddly enough for the context of this news piece, it’s two Florida congressmen who sponsored this bill that sounds like it was named by a 3^rd grader, the ‘Sunshine Protection Act of 2025’. Those being Representative Vern Buchanan and Senator Rick Scott. The bill, that is being championed by our Lord and Savior, President Donald J Trump, breezed through the hapless House of Representatives on July 14^th by a wide margin. At the time of this recording, it’s sitting stuck with the Senate for which it doesn’t currently have the votes to move forward.

Now, what exactly does the science say about all of this. On the research front, I couldn’t find anything that showed how holding an hour of light at the end of the day benefited the economy. Quite the reverse, we have consensus, including from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, that Standard Time is healthier for people. I will note that days before the Sunshine Protection Act was voted on in the House, the Sunshine for Our Kids Act was proposed, as an effort to promote a switch to Standard Time.

What about crime? Well, there was this one crime study that found that Daylight Saving time led to a 7% drop in robberies, which could generate $59M in cost savings, though it should be noted that that wasn’t looking at the duration of permanent DST, rather the effects from the Springtime clock change. Otherwise, I found no real proof justifying making daylight saving time permanent.

It should be noted that this isn’t the first time the US has traveled down this road, and oddly, or similarly enough given the influence of Nixon in this Administration, there’s a Nixonian theme that binds these two moments in time together. Back in 1973, the US passed the Time Energy Conservation Act, which attempted to reduce the US dependency to Arab oil. Most folks welcomed the change, the switch over carried high approval ratings. Then, folks in the higher latitudes began to face the realities of 9AM sunrises. The public’s love affair with Daylight Saving time ended almost 10 months later, which I will point was, prior to the next winter.

Before we step away from this, I want to just circle back to who is probably putting forth this bill in Congress. Historically, it’s been pushed by three main groups, though there are others I’m sure. Those include the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), the National Retail Federation (NRF), and the National Golf Course Owners Association, with the latter claiming that ‘making Standard Time permanent…would be an enormous economic wound to the golf industry because extra daylight in the evening is much more conduction to outdoor exercise than in the morning.’

Now, Lin, I want to get into some of the stuff that you’ve been working on. I first caught your name last year when an article came out in Nature Cities discussing how artificial light at night was more influential than urban warming in extending urban growing seasons throughout the autumn months. That was an eye opener enough, for sure, but this year you had another article come out essentially correlating artificial light at night with extended pollen season! Say it aint so!

Your team’s study found that areas with artificial light at night correlated with an earlier pollen season by 20 days. And even worse, it appeared to extend the pollen season well past areas with low light pollution levels. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the pollen impact was more severe! In light polluted areas, you guys found that 27% of the pollen season days were severe, versus 17% areas with low levels of light pollution.

Now, for some reason, the idea that light pollution affected pollinators was echoed about the internet this past month. It came up in numerous news articles. There’s one from the Courier, which mentioned a 2020 study from Nature – that was incorrect, it was for 2017, but regardless, that study found that artificial light at night reduced nighttime meadow pollination visits to the tune of 62%.

And I also have this other interesting piece out of Plant Ecology that analyzed another meadow, this time on the Tibetan Plateau. The team assessed two flowering plants that don’t appear to have common names in English, but I’m sure have some colloquial name in Chinese. One plant is able to partly self pollinate, the other relies exclusively on outside help. Researchers set up 5 paired plots with one pair unlit and other one lit. The team aimed to simulate the effects of an LED streetlight. They kept the lit side bright between 7:30 PM to 5:30 AM. The team then tracked pollination via cameras and night vision goggles for four summer nights.

They found that that light played an important role in pollination behavior. Under natural conditions, nighttime pollinators added 27% of the plant’s total pollen to flower stigmas and accounted for just over 1/3 of the all the seeds produced. For the plant which relied on outside pollination it was found that moths, which made up almost ¾ of all nighttime insect visitors, dropped off by almost 50% under artificial light. Light reduced pollen delivery by 54% at night and reduced the successful seed maturation by 56% at night.

Conversely, for the partially self pollinating plant, this plant relied primarily on self pollination (65%), through which it received the remainder of its pollination from daytime pollinators like bees and flies. Also, no insects were seen visiting the plant at night, so it stands to reason that artificial light at night had no significant impact on the pollination of this partially self pollinating plant.

Let me swing over to some policy news. For you at home who may be new to the show, you may have missed the saga of Breckenridge. To get you up to speed.

Way back in the hinter years of 2007, Breckenridge adopted an exterior lighting ordinance with a compliance date of July 1, 2022. That’s a 15 year lead time for business and residents to comply with the ordinance. Then, given covid, that was pushed back to July 1, 2025. Between then and there, the decision to pursue a Dark Sky International certification was made. Breckenridge obtained the honor of a Certified Dark Sky Community on August 22, 2025, though it should be noted that enforcement of the ordinance still hadn’t begun. That wouldn’t take place until January of 2026! I will note that sign lighting was carved out to comply by 2033.

All of that said, we have this piece out of Marketplace telling us how expensive it is to upgrade – folks had 19 years to comply mind you. The cost, apparently is pretty steep. One business owner spent around $8,000 upgrading his shop and apartment buildings. The most notable complaint here from a fella the article quoted, Turk Montepare, was actually finding the right damn fixture! Would you believe it, Home Depot wasn’t much of a help!

Some good news on the street lighting front this month. First, out in Kentucky, House Bill 571 entered into effect on July 15^th. This bill forces the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, that is Kentucky’s transportation department, to put shielding on highway lights with the stated goal of reducing harm to farmland, be it soybean production, cattle…you name it. Republican Representative Kim Holloway sponsored the legislation. Farmers can file a written complaint to the cabinet, which will have 30 days to rectify the issue.

The challenge here, too, is cost. According to WKMS, such mitigation techniques may include removing light towers and installing traditional cobra fixtures. At one intersection, such a plan would run near $400k to implement!

On that note, Zhe, your team participated in a really interesting study that we featured on this show some months ago. You had a pretty sizeable number of coauthors participating in this one, inclusive of 22 total authors. The study utilized NASA’s Black Marble data from January 2014 to December 2022, looking at around 10% of the Earth’s land.

For you at home, you’ll recall that it was found over this period that brightness radiance grew to 34% of the 2014 baseline and similarly decreased in certain areas by 18% of the 2014 baseline, netting to 16% gain in total brightness. In places like Asia, urbanization and industrialization contributed to new lighting, in the US areas with population increases saw new lighting while areas that lost population showed a trend toward dimming. Europe showed a dimming pattern, partly caused by the energy crisis involving Russia natural gas.

You coined a really good explanation of what’s going on here, calling it the “heartbeat of the planet.” There’s also a great video showing this ‘heartbeat’ in action over on the University of Connecticut page discussing your work.

Now, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. We had a lot of satellite news! I’m holding on the big Reflect Orbital details because, for one, I know you at home have heard all about it by now. But also, because next month’s guest, Diane Turnshek essentially called the article. Sorry John, apparently guests can call articles now! So I’m going to hold that for when Diane comes on. I anticipate us having a really great discussion regarding Reflect Orbital.

But there is enough to talk about beyond those confines! The other big news is what partially propelled SpaceX’s stellar valuation. That being the idea of orbital data centers, a dreamy 1 million satellite constellation of satellites larger than the ISS. Elon is ecstatic at the idea. He apparently said in a video a couple months back that ‘There’s a lot of space up there, and so even when you’re talking thousands, or even, you know, up to a million satellites, you got plenty of room to move around up there. Space is really big, so it’s not like space is going to get crowded.”

But you party pooper astronomers aren’t envisioning space candy canes and sugar plums, are you John? On July 8^th, multiple organizations including Dark Sky International, Environmental America and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a petition with the move fast and break things FCC, requesting the Federal Communications Commission to perform an environmental review in conformity to the National Environmental Policy Act.

The petition goes onto mention Project Sunrise, Blue Origin’s 51,600 satellite data centers and also the Cowboy Space 20,000 satellite data center proposal. I will note, there are other bright objects up there, including AST Mobile’s blue bird constellation, which I believe are the largest sized satellites in low earth orbit.

And how about this for when the FCC absolves itself of any environmental regulation, as it almost assuredly will – SpaceX disposed of 260 Starlinks over the six month span from December 2025 to May 2026. While that’s not even scraping the surface of the planned disposable reentry for these satellites. Is it quackery to think this has to have some lasting effect on the air we breathe?

The other news involving SpaceX was the admission that last year alone, Starlinks executed 355k collision avoidance maneuvers! In the six month span between December to May alone, SpaceX has had to execute 207k avoidance maneuvers! That sounds like a lot, I think it averaged to something a bit less insane, like 40 maneuvers per satellite over the same time span.