Restoring Darkness – Détails, épisodes et analyse

If you’ve driven in the country and experienced a car coming at you with their high-beams on, you sort of know what Michael Evenson experiences. Regular low-beam LED headlights are so bad for him that, wherever he is on the road, he has to stop until the “terror brightness” passes. Michael points out that we should look at Europe where headlights must be shielded or aimed to point only on the road. Why can’t we do that here?

Born in 1945 at the head of the Boomer Generation which meant that anything Michael was interested in became a fashion for much of the country.  He got a liberal arts degree from UC Berkeley, and headed for the hills to carve out a life with other community building individuals, raising children, and preserving environmental health. He turned to farming and ranching, and has owned the Lost Coast Ranch, from the late 60s to the present.  He is the owner and founder, in 1986, of OldGrowthTimbers.com specializing in dismantling old buildings to salvage the precious old redwood, while routinely trucking lumber and livestock on the back roads and highways of California.  He is the long time President of the Mattole Salmon Group, spending a lifetime restoring salmon to the Mattole River.

Highlights from this episode:

• Counting Birds
• Hazy Memories
• Court Decisions
• Parrotheads v Turtle Nests

Sponsored by Evluma

https://evluma.com/dark-sky-friendly-lighting/

Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle 

Headlines and Sources can be found at restoringdarkness.com

Awareness. That is what light pollution needs. Awareness on the part of the consumer and the supplier. Tim Ryan is a landscape lighting designer who is aware of light pollution. A good designer is not looking for the brightest LED. It’s about nuance, balance, layering, and texture. As Tim says, “a little bit of light goes a long way.” Tim is The Lighthouse Group executive director, one of the principal lighting designers for the Lighthouse Design Studio and the professional photographer documenting all of the finished projects for our group. He has been on this “lighting ride” for 27 years, starting with integrated lighting into his landscape designs from the very beginning and 5 years later moving into the outdoor lighting business solely after falling in love with the mood, magic and totally new perspective that the illuminated garden space provides. He’s been with Lighthouse since 2015 and is passionate about educating the next generation of outdoor lighting designers for the future of this art. 

One thing leads to another. Jessica’s family's favorite place is Joshua Tree National Park. There she likes to sneak out of the tent at night and look up at the stars. Living in the city and knowing what they’re missing there, she dove deeper into the subject of Light pollution. That brought her to FLAP Canada and discovering that the Lights Out movement really started there. Not only that, it was children and teachers that brought it to light. And so she thought it fitting to point that out in her book, “Lights Out: A Movement To Help MIgrating Birds.”

Jessica Stremer is an award-winning children’s author who combines her love of science and writing to create books that inspire kids to explore and think critically about the world around them. Her other titles include GREAT CARRIER REEF (a Cook Prize Silver Medalist and NY Public Library Best Book of the Year), FIRE ESCAPE: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires (a JLG Gold Standard selection), PLIGHT OF THE PELICAN: How Science Saved a Species, TRAPPED IN THE TAR PIT, and WONDERFULLY WILD. Jessica obtained a B.S. in Biology, with an emphasis in Ecology, from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She was a recipient of the 2023 Stephen Fraser Encouragement Award and 2023 finalist for the Russel Freedman award. When not writing you can find Jessica cheering from the sideline of her kids’ soccer games, spending time outdoors, and planning her next family adventure. Find Jessica's book here.

Highlights from this episode:
 - Regulators
 - Diabetes
 - Florida
 - Ads In Space

Sponsored by  Evluma
https://evluma.com/dark-sky-friendly-lighting/

Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle 

Headlines and Sources at https://restoringdarkness.com/

Highlights from this episode:

• Test Cases
• Case Studies
• Waterfronts
• A History Lesson

Sponsored by Evluma

https://evluma.com/dark-sky-friendly-lighting/

Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle 

Headlines and Sources can be found at RestoringDarkness.com

Yep. Our first politician. And she’s on our side. Senator Ellman got Bill SB3501, The Outdoor Lighting Control Act, passed in both houses in Illinois. Senator Ellman will admit she didn’t get everything she wanted in it, but as she says, this is just one step on the path (this IS politics after all). We were impressed with her humility, honesty, and down to earth approach - politician or not. NOTE: There were some video and audio issues with Senator Ellman, but we deemed them not bad enough and the content too good not to release the episode. State Senator Laura Ellman was first elected to serve in the Illinois General Assembly in November of 2018 and re-elected in 2022. Senate District 21 includes parts of Bolingbrook, Downers Grove, Glen Ellyn, Lisle, Lombard, Naperville, Wheaton and Warrenville. Senator Ellman currently serves on a number of committees, including Agriculture; Appropriations, Chairperson of Environment and Conservation; Vice-Chairperson of Financial Institutions; Transportation and Veterans Affairs. Senator Ellman was the first child to attend college in both her parents’ families. After graduating from Grinnell College with a degree in mathematics, she earned a masters’ degree in applied statistics at the University of Iowa. Professionally, she has more than 25 years of experience working in manufacturing and engineering and dealing with regulations and policies. Senator Ellman currently lives in Naperville with her husband Pete, a musician and small business owner, and they are proud parents of two adult children.

Connect with Senator Ellman: http://senatorlauraellman.com/ https://www.facebook.com/senatorellman/ https://www.instagram.com/statesenatorlauraellman/  

Highlights from this episode:

• FDA Denials
• There’s an App for That
• Pauses and Paws at the Border
• Stressed Rodents

Sponsored by Evluma

https://evluma.com/dark-sky-friendly-lighting/

Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle

Headlines and Sources at restoringdarkness.com

Beautiful Merrymeeting Bay in Maine, is an important area for wildlife habitat, and for humans. For decades, people have enjoyed a pristine view of the night sky - until the local electrical utility replaced two towers and lit them up, right at the iconic Chops, lighting the area for miles around. Ed and the Friends of Merrymeeting Bay got that changed, but they ended up out of the frying pan and into the fire with an aircraft radar detection system. And the battle continues. On the Friends of Merrymeeting Bay (FOMB) Steering Committee since the winter of 1993, Ed has been Chair since 1996. In this work he has written major grants and initiated projects in the areas of land conservation, research, advocacy, and education. Two projects, Aquatic & Upland Habitat Assessment of Merrymeeting Bay over time utilizing historical and current aerial photography combined with GIS to look at land use and vegetation changes over time; and Caged Bivalve Studies on the Kennebec and Androscoggin to monitor PCBs and dioxins, have been the first projects of their type in the state of Maine and quite successful. A multi-year Circulation Study of the Bay and six tributaries was also a major accomplishment. Most recently FOMB has been on the cutting edge of affordable PFAS sampling. 

Patrick is the DarkSky International delegate in the Fargo North Dakota area. Patrick has found that framing the light pollution argument around astronomy, animal life, ecosystems, etc. can cause some audiences to nod off and glaze over. What gets everyone’s attention is “light trespass,” and human health. Lead with that and then people will listen to the other reasons why light pollution is a problem. And of course, there is the one argument that gets EVERYONE’S attention. Turn off your lights and save money! Patrick Sommer has been a lifelong enthusiast for the night sky, space exploration, and in late 2019 translated that enthusiasm into an application to be a delegate for the International Dark-Sky Association, now known as DarkSky International. Representing the organization in the Fargo, North Dakota area, by 2020 he was working social media accounts and as the world moved in and out of COVID restrictions getting in front of local sustainability and astronomy clubs. Additionally, he has represented the night to the now dormant Red River Valley Climate Action Committee and presented information on light pollution to the City of Fargo’s Sustainability and Resiliency Committee and the City of Moorhead’s Streetlight subcommittee. Of late he has been active with Starry Skies North, a conglomerate of Dark Sky enthusiast and activists based in Duluth and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Connect with Patrick: @StarrySkiesND on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X
https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-sommer-28926b58/

Connect with The Soft Lights Foundation: https://www.softlights.org