.png;w=960)
Some days ago I saw the first fluttering moths of Spring batting against my well-lit window. Last year, if anything, I would have just thought, “Welcome back little friends!” But this year, if they could just have understood, I would have shouted, “No! Get away from the light! For God’s sake, go save yourselves!” Perhaps it is not helpful to start this letter like a raving madwoman. As it was, I just turned off the lights.
I have noticed a gradual change in the creatures who live near my home in my 60 plus years here on Bowen, even down to the insects. I remember the first summer the barn swallows did not return to our porch to build their nest. And when the visits of the vivid and vivacious violet green swallows became a dusty old memory, when the cedar waxwings stopped nesting, when there no longer any giant moths at the windows ever, when our back yard no longer bounced with grasshoppers in August, when the bats skimming the bay at night became less numerous, and when, last summer, I could count the number of Swallowtail butterflies visiting our yard on my fingers.
To be honest, while I could see a disturbing decline, I couldn’t think why. Our habitat, where I live, is mostly unchanged and, while we have used wood burning stoves, the air seems reasonably unpolluted. Natural beauty, galore! So what else could be going on?
Last fall I heard a snippet of a CBC radio show that stopped me in my tracks. An expert was explaining that after habitat loss and pollution, man-made night lighting was the next most damaging thing for our insects. About a quarter of the land surface of the earth is now illuminated by our lights at night. That has a huge impact because scientists estimate that about a third of the insects that are attracted to a light shining through the night will die by morning either from exhaustion, dehydration or predation.
Day in, day out, night lights can wipe out local populations of nocturnally active insects. We have neighbours who have kept lights on all night, every night for years, and we, ourselves, have not been much better. And I thought, Wow! I should have known that! After all, I emptied thousands of dried out insects from my light fixtures every fall, a whole mini massacre which I blithely ignored. The last couple of months I have mentioned this to some very bright, informed people who were just as surprised as I was. Hence this letter.
So what can we do about it? Turn off lights we are not using, especially outdoor lights, and make sure no lights stay on overnight. Insects are more attracted to white light and to the green and blue end of the spectrum so, when we change our outdoor bulbs to yellow, amber or even red, that makes a big difference. The Irly Bird carries yellow light bubs they call “Bug Lights” which provide very good visibility and the bugs are not nearly as interested in them. Night Owls can close curtains. Motion sensors that turn lights on for only a few minutes are helpful. For myself I will use one of those handy rechargeable flashlights more often rather than lighting up our whole yard. We can all make a difference here.
And there are a couple of kind-of-nice natural coincidences. First, longer days mean we have less need to have a lot of lights on when dark finally settles in. Second, fewer flying insects are active in cold weather, so we don’t need to dispense with our winter light displays or even feel particularly guilty. Our Christmas Elf, Basia, and her merry band, can relax but not retire.
Since I started writing this note I have noticed something wonderful: the people of Snug Cove are already on this! Many businesses have already changed to amber light bulbs to illuminate their establishments and the Muni has amber streetlamps too! Hurrah! Well done! But why not turn every unessential light off from 1 am until 5 am and really give the little fellows out there back the night? They need to go about their business of making our natural world tick.
Lights are not the whole answer, of course, but they are another big puzzle piece to slip into our picture of ecological health and recovery.
