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September 2024: Totality of Impact!, Light Pollution News.

Host:

Guests:

Did you see the opening ceremony? For those who missed it, lighting designers put on quite a show At 10:57 PM, the Eiffel Tower extended endless beams of light forward into the darkness above an illuminated Olympic logo. Within seconds, countless beacon lights emerged from the sides of the tower extending significant miles in range.

No doubt, a visual sight that was impressive to both those at home and those in the audience. 

Since we’re talking sports, I actually have some sports related articles that came through tonight, a super-rarity for the news pull!

First up, a student decided to look at the impacts of artificial grow lighting, a topic we touched on several episodes back. Such lighting typically isn’t seen much here in the US and Canada, unless we’re talking about marijuana greenhouses however, in the UK, it’s a bit different – namely involving multisport stadium pitches.

The notable example of Brighton Stadium is used to look at how such stadium lighting set ups impact their surroundings. To you at home, artificial grow lights are used to promote full pitch grass growth with the goal of reducing injuries by maintaining a natural field for sport. While much of the field may have the chance to get daylighting, parts of such fields apparently remain stuck in shadows, thereby suppressing growth. Additionally, some stadiums may simply exist in low light climates that deter growth.

As with most things involving light pollution, cost appears to be at least half of the obstacle. Such solutions mentioned by the author include enclosed lighting set ups, returfing, movable pitches, and transparent stadium roofs to promote uniformity in solar fed grass growth.

On this topic, I found this interesting. Here in the States, I know that the condition of NFL natural grass surfaces is always a point for contention. So I looked into how natural grass fields handle regrowth.

Teams traditionally sourced grass from turf farms – for instance, there’s one in New Jersey that supplies at least 9 major sports teams with natural grass.

However, I learned that my hometown team, the Eagles, recently switched over to a more durable hybrid turf that – that you guessed it, apparently has the benefits of grass but the durability of artificial turf. So modern field technology is bringing about solutions.

Do I have any fisherfolk amongst us tonight?

I came across this great article covering the how to’s of nighttime trout fishing by Joe Cermele at Outdoor Life.  It’s very interesting in that it touches on some aspects of our regular churn of ecological news, and applies them to sport.

Fish, including many sport fish like largemouth bass, muskies, and trout, have a change of attitude at night – leaving their safe territorial waters to prowl for insect hatchlings.

In order to properly increase your chances of snagging a trout at night, a fisherman must appear incognito, blending in with the surface – that includes avoiding any direct light shining down onto the water below as such may scare away trout.

In addition, Cermele recommends that anglers seek out areas for little to no bug activity prior to sunset to ensure that they have the best shot at making a big snag.

Before we close up this topic, I have one tidbit to mention. I bet you didn’t know that there was an Ultimate Frisbee organization that maintained power rankings for clubs across all of North America. I actually have a friend whose high school helped compose the Philadelphia team’s fight song. Either way – that’s neither here nor there – apparently the Utah club team has donned the nickname the ‘Utah Dark Sky.’ 

As of this recording, the Utah Dark Sky sits 11^th in the Women’s division.

Now, while I have this esteemed panel of guests with me, I want to take a look at the goings on up high in the sky.

From Space.com, Sharmila Kuthunur put together an excellent piece discussing the new array of Starlink Satellites.  In March, SpaceX requested an amendment with the FCC to deploy 7500 Gen2 Starlink satellites into low earth orbit. Then on July 13^th, the US Court of Appeals for DC sided with Starlink after a joint objection raised by Dish Network and Dark Sky International.

I’m going to do a layman’s interpretation of the court’s decision here. No doubt, in the presence of proper administrative law professionals, this would be a more detailed description – but the takeaways appear to be this.

Dish Network failed to provide sufficient evidence to back its claim of injury by the presumed Gen2 Starlink Satellites.

In addition, the court affirmed the FCC’s conclusion that no environmental assessment was necessary, stating that the FCC’s actions “have no significant effect on the quality of the human environment and are categorically excluded from environmental processing.”

The judge writing the opinion in this case was Neomi Rao.

This decision clears the way for SpaceX to begin populating the sky with its next round of products. The 7500 satellites are part of Starlink’s Direct to Cell satellite plan, currently residing with T-Mobile. These satellites remain approximately the same size as the current internet only satellites. However, since they sit at a lower orbit, 217 miles versus 340 miles, the satellites have a higher apparent brightness. To their credit, Starlink confirms the brightness impact but is looking to work with astronomers to assess potential impact mitigation.

Now, in addition to this case, AT&T and Verizon joined satellite companies EchoStar and OmniSpace have tossed their cogs into the wheel, requesting that the FCC reject SpaceX’s plan – namely on the premise that the new satellites will emit stronger signals in excess of their frequency band by upwards of 9 fold, thereby interfering with ground based broadband.  It should be noted that AT&T is looking to have its own satellite constellation to do exactly what SpaceX is doing, through AST SpaceMobile. That should go live in 2025, but the initial satellites were planned to launch this September.

The intent of this would be to develop uniform best practices to reduce light and noise interference from satellite technology. It should be noted that the NIST is not a regulatory agency, instead, it is a lab environment that recommends best practices that are often adopted by the industry.

Dark and quiet skies preservation has been a policy plan fermenting for some time. It’s my understanding that the International Astronomical Union is working with government agencies both in the US and Europe to help reduce the impact of satellite interference.

Staying in the policy realm, Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona will be investing around $100,000 in the new International Dark Sky Discovery Center at Fountain Hills. The Board of Supervisors believes the investment will go a long way to help educate individuals on how to appreciate Arizona’s open space.

From LED Magazine, Dark Sky International will be collaborating with the Lighting Urban Community International group, also known as LUCI, to help bring attention to and reduce light pollution. The group which operates in upwards of 117 cities, also works with vendors, universities, artists, exhibitions, etc. Light Pollution will be one of five working groups, with the others including groups such as ‘Light Festival,’ ‘Placemaking with People and Light’, and ‘Health and Well Being.’

LUCI issued a declaration for the future in 2023 to forge a “harmony between light and darkness in the city.”

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this one – Do any of you have little kids, or maybe some young nieces or nephews?

Now, I presume all three of my guests are aware of this but maybe you at home aren’t.

This summer, Dark Sky International released coloring pages! Pages include such things as sea turtles (of course), owls, and aliens. Best of all, it’s free – with no email capture. So if you have some young ones or even some adult ones – I know adult coloring was a big thing in the not so distant past – check out the link over at today’s show notes on LightPollutionNews.com.

Let’s cheer on some of these new designations this month!

• Congratulations to Shield Ranch Barton Creek on becoming the first Urban Night Sky Place in the Lone Star state of Texas!
• The Eiweiler district in Nohfelden, Germany chalks up the eighth International Dark Sky Place in Germany!
• Prineville Reservoir in Oregon becomes an International Dark Sky Park.

Lastly tonight, have you ever looked at a building sign and either been inspired or mesmerized by it? Well, maybe you should stop by the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio?  Inside sits a collection of neon Americana. Complete with spinning 76 Gas signs to an old neon McDonald’s pole sign.