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January 2025: .02 Microwatts! Light Pollution News.

Host:

Dr. Mario Motta

Dr. Motta had been in practice at North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Massachusetts, since
1983, recently retiring in 2022. He is a graduate of Boston College, with a BS in physics and
biology, and of Tufts Medical School. He is board certified in Internal medicine and Cardiology
and is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and of the American Society of Nuclear
Cardiology. He is an associate professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Dr. Motta has long been active in organized medicine, both in the American Medical Association (AMA) and in the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS), holding a number of posts through the years. He is a past President of the MMS. He was elected and served 8 years on the AMA Council of Science and Public Health, and then was elected to the Board of Trustees of the AMA in 2018, recently completing his term. In May of 2023 at its annual meeting, the MMS awarded Dr Motta its highest honor, the “Award for Distinguished Service.”

Dr Motta also has a lifelong interest in astronomy and has hand built a number of telescopes
and observatories through the years to do astronomical research, including his entirely
homemade 32 inch F6 relay telescope located in Gloucester, MA. He has been awarded several
national awards in astronomy, including the Las Cumbras award from the Astronomical Society
of the Pacific in 2003, the Walter Scott Houston Award from the Northeast section of the Astronomical League, and in 2017 the Henry Olcott Award from the American Association of
Variable star Observers (AAVSO). He has served as a president of the ATM’s of Boston, and
has served as a council member of the AAVSO, and is a past president as well. He has also
served on the Board of the IDA. He has worked on light pollution issues and published several
white papers on LP as a member of the AMA council of science and public health. He served on
a UN committee (COPUOS) representing the AMA on light pollution for a worldwide effort to
control LP and satellite proliferation. Finally, several years ago the International Astronomical
Union awarded Dr Motta an asteroid in part for his work on light pollution as well as amateur
research, asteroid 133537MarioMotta.

Glenn Heinmiller

Glenn Heinmiller is a principal at the architectural lighting design firm, Lam Partners. Utilizing his expertise in producing high-quality electric and daylighting solutions with minimized energy use and negative environmental impact, Glenn has designed daylight and electric lighting systems for a diverse range of projects, including research facilities and labs, academic/administrative buildings, student and faculty residences, athletic facilities, student centers, performing arts centers and libraries. As Chairman of the IALD Energy and Sustainability Committee, he manages the IALD’s participation in sustainability initiatives, and the review of and contribution to standards, regulations, and rating systems development. He is a LEED Accredited Professional and served as a USGBC Subject Matter Expert. He is the former instructor of the lighting design course at the Boston Architectural College, and lectures and writes on the subjects of light pollution control, lighting codes, and lighting energy efficiency. Glenn is also an expert on Massachusetts energy codes and utility incentive programs.

David Lefevre

David Lefevre lives in France near the Geneva Lake (where Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” was written in 1972). Father of two boys, a musician who skis, paraglides and hikes in the mountains, where he usually brings his camera to shoot stars and the milky way at night. Lefevre works in Cybersecurity, Lefevre runs the informational website: https://rallumons-les-etoiles.eu/

Article List:

1. Here are 5 major threats to Ireland’s remaining dark skies, George McMillan, RTE.
2. AstraLumina.
3. Young People Are Losing Their Cultural Heritage to Light Pollution, Paige Cromley, Sierra.
4. Scrooge’ landlord reports tenant for keeping Christmas lights on after 10pm, Jonathan Sutton, Stoke-On-Trent.
5. Bright ideas for more nature-friendly holiday lights, Sachi Wickramasinghe, University of British Columbia.
6. Semi driver cited in Kansas for “unauthorized additional lighting”, Carina Branson, KSN.
7. Rethinking Occasional Outdoor Lighting: A Kinder, Gentler, More Nature-Friendly Glow, Kendra Wilson, Gardenista.
8. Outdoor artificial light at night and risk of conversion from mild cognitive impairment to dementia, European Journal of Public Health.
9. Nocturnal Artificial Light Exposure in Expectant Mothers and Risk of Congenital Glaucoma, European Journal of Public Health.
10. Circadian desynchrony in early life leads to enduring autistic-like behavioral changes in adulthood, Communications Biology.
11. Effects of exposure to outdoor light at night on blood lipids in China: a nationwide cross-sectional study, Scientific Reports.
12. Brighter nights and darker days predict higher mortality risk: A prospective analysis of personal light exposure in >88,000 individuals, PNAS.
13. Evaluation of metabolic and haematological impacts of light-at-night exposure on adult male Wistar rats under sleep restriction condition., Dutse Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences.
14. Outdoor Artificial Light at Night and Insomnia-Related Social Media Posts, JAMA Network.
15. Satellite and brain data show environmental impacts on young brains, Noelle Toumey Reetz, Futurity.
16. Coca Cola Christmas Advert1 (Holidays Are Coming) 1995.
17. The Holiday Magic is coming.

Here’s a good way to get things started this afternoon! A big rig truck driver was cited for going the distance with quite a festive display. Out in Kansas, the driver decorated the exterior of the cab of this truck with red, green, and blue Christmas string lights.

Quite honestly, the thing looks like a moving Christmas present and I’m not sure how you could mistake it otherwise! However, the officer who pulled him over thought otherwise.

The driver of the vehicle was cited for “unauthorized additional lighting,” that exceeded the apparent requirement of only white or amber lights on the front of the vehicle. The trooper raised a fear that the lights may be misconstrued, somehow, as being an emergency vehicle.

An interesting piece of news that I’m going to start off with tonight. From RTE, ‘5 Major Threats to Ireland’s remaining Dark Skies.’ This article listed some of the usual suspects – including satellite mega-constellations, irresponsibly bright and/or bluish LEDs, the incentive through cheap lighting to not practice or exhibit responsibility when using such lighting….but the article also discussed one additional item which I think might be more pressing than all of the others – and you are welcome to disagree with me – however – it references what’s called a shifting baseline syndrome – Whereby, people simply never experience darkness and therefore don’t wish to protect darkness. There was even an article out of Sierra this month that corroborated this very same narrative, written by a self-described ‘Gen Z’er.’

There’s a story out of the UK that begs the question of – ‘How should we best handle nuisance lighting deriving from holiday lighting?’

This is a deceivingly complicated story. However, here are the basics. Michael Stonier is feeling victimized by Homes Plus Group, which is a low income housing association in the UK. Stonier put up exterior Christmas decorations starting in September. The tenant then left lights on substantially long, if not indefinitely. The association requested that Stonier turn off the lights by 10pm, citing lighting past 10pm as imparting  “Light Pollution” on his neighbors. The association also requested that Stonier not set up or display decorations prior to November 16^th. The media was quick to pounce on the association as being a ‘scrooge.’

I have seen other cases like this in the news. As is typical, the offender did not feel that the disciplinary action was warranted because they felt that their holiday lights were driven by an altruistic motive.

I think this is a good one to close out this segment. The holidays may be over but take note for next year. The University of British Columbia published this great resource on having festive holiday lighting while aiming to not disturb the ecosystem you are illuminating.

The recommendations are this:

• Use a timer so that the lights are only on during the most impactful hours (say 6-9?)
• Instead of placing light outside on fencing, around the yard – or in a tree, put it either inside your window or underneath overhangs so that way the light is hitting the house, not aimed outward to the sky.
• Don’t light up trees and bushes – it’s ok to use ecologically friendly decorations, just no lights in those areas.
• Refrain from using flashing bulbs or blues and whites – stick to the warmer colors with slower on/off speeds.

And if you’re interested in lighting suggestions – Gardenista had a great article on eco friendly exterior holiday lighting. Included in such are warm orange fairy lights and, something I wish glampers would invest in – a hand held table light that shines only downward.

Ok, let’s switch over to health related news, of which there was a lot this month. I’m going to give the caveat that many of the articles discussed here utilize satellite data to approximate nighttime darkness. And Dr. Motta, the use of satellite data does not imply causation, isn’t that right?

A study in the European Journal of Public Health found that dementia risks increased for people exposed to artificial light at night. The study looked at the location histories of 53 Italian subjects, of which 34 of them contracted dementia. The location histories were compared against satellite data to identify the estimated range of artificial light at night.

The risk level appeared to increase with generalized outdoor light at night levels. All subjects had a form of mild cognitive impairment.

Staying in the European Journal of Public Health, another study assessed how artificial light at night in residential neighborhoods affected the risk of congenital glaucoma in newborn babies. Using satellite data, researchers looked at the generalized light at night levels of mothers’ neighborhoods and compared that to births between 2008 to 2011 in urban South Korea via the National Health Insurance database. The findings conclude that more research is needed but the initial results indicate that artificial light at night impacts expecting mothers and heightens the risk of congenital glaucoma.

A study out of Communications Biology suggests that circadian disruption may influence the propensity of someone to develop autism. The study looked at two sets of mice, one set experienced a shortened day of 8 hours of light and dark, while the other experienced 12 hours of light and dark. The short day mice appear to be less sociable; more interested in repeating behaviors – such as marble burying and grooming; weaker cognitive learning; and increased anxiety. In fact, the short day mice experienced brain alterations in several regions. From Scientific Reports, a group in China looked at over 10,000 adults aged 45 and older across 150 different sites in China. The researchers aimed to see if areas experiencing generalized light pollution had any associated risks involving their lipid metabolism. In this case, higher levels of generalized light at night appear to line up with higher levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower levels of good cholesterol (HDL), with those living in higher levels of light pollution associating with a 20% higher chance of abnormal blood lipid levels.

And we have a study that looked at how artificial light at night affected the metabolism of adult male, sleep deprived rats. The study in the Dutse Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, found that the rats had a slower metabolism and higher fasting blood sugar levels.

Lastly, this shouldn’t come as a surprise because we engineer night out of our cities. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network asked, ‘hey – is that exposure to artificial light associated with an increased risk in insomnia?’

The study used satellite nighttime imagery to assess the generalized levels of light pollution in 336 Chinese cities and, interestingly, looked at over 1 million insomnia related social media posts. The findings hint that artificial light may play a role – identifying a trend between overall brightness and increased incidences of insomnia postings. Not surprisingly, insomnia also carried an association with extreme temperatures and bad air pollution.

And we’ll leave you with this last tidbit. There was a review from some Georgia State University researchers that looked at a myriad of child development factors. One of the factors was nighttime light brightness, which found that places with more light at night and more buildings, tended to house parents with lower levels of education and income, versus areas with more trees and plants tended to be linked to higher levels of education and income.

Let’s end today with an interesting look at our cultural conceptions of our affinity for light.

Did any of you catch the much talked about Coca Cola Truck ad for this year? The 2024 ad was an AI attempt at recreating the ad that initially debuted 29 years ago. And while you could probably make a case either way about the content of the ad, for the purposes of this show, I want to talk about what’s changed.

If you’re not familiar with the ad, the premise is a train of Coca-Cola trucks that drive through a town bringing joy in the form of smiles and festive lighting along the way. It’s a heartwarming ad for the holidays.

In the original 1995 ad, nighttime was a key character in the story. The trucks’ holiday lights snaked through a neighborhood with no streetlights – lighting up houses along the way, then they crossed an unlit bridge – lighting a bridge as it crossed, and then they bring joy to a father and son who sat in their pickup truck at an unlit intersection watching the Coca-Cola trucks pass through. The trucks cast their light onto their faces, providing a visual connection between the trucks and the happiness the characters experienced.  Eventually, the trucks snake into a city nestled in a valley, which begins to light up as it enters.

Now, fast forward to 2024. The trucks snake through the same neighborhood. Before the trucks make it in, the neighborhood is already lit – the trucks simply make everything glow a little brighter as they pass. The city setting is now coastal, but the light pollution is readily apparent and glares into the screen before the trucks even make it down the hill. The trucks pass through what looks like Manhattan, which already is already bright – but now they too get a measurable glowing boost.

The ad finishes as it drives through a neighborhood – already lit up, and again showcases a glary street light and a glary house sconce before it concludes.

Glare and sky glow both now play a supporting role in the 2024 ad. Glare is so prevalent, that it’s arguably more noticeable than the sky glow, if you’re looking for it.