A fascinating account of how the simplest of materials can be used to bring daylight into the homes of thousands of poverty-stricken families in the Philippines.
Here an interesting article explains how artificial light affects the natural system in a very incisive way and underlines once again the importance to fix regulations on this problem.
A conservation group urges BP to make lighting changes on its Gulf of Mexico oil platforms. It says the fixes are needed to save thousands of migrating birds.White lights on oil and gas platforms cause an estimated 200,000 bird deaths per year because migrating songbirds are drawn to the lights then become disoriented and exhausted as they circle the platforms, a release from the American Bird Conservancy said Friday.Some birds crash into the platform or fall into the ocean from exhaustion and others land on the platform where there is no food or drinking water.When finally able to leave, they can be in a weakened state and unable to make landfall or are more vulnerable to predation, the ABC said.”We are talking about simple fixes to existing platform lighting,” said Michael Fry, ABC director of conservation advocacy.”We need to replace both white and red lights with commercially available green lights, shield the lights from above and reduce the duration of nighttime lighting during bird migration periods,” he said.”Safety concerns can be managed within the framework of these changes,” Fry said.Other countries, such as the Netherlands, have instituted bird-friendly lighting on oil and gas platforms off their coasts, the ABC said. read more
Strolling around the Milan Salone I run into a delicate fluttering of light. Trough a clever use of LEDs, these lamps provide a sustainable use of energy but also drive to a individual light modulation. Telling stories of Japanese fireflies that can no longer see each other because of artificial lighting of our nights, this young designer decided to put her creativity to the conception of a low lamp which follows the “right lamp for right task” philosophy, encouraging a responsible use of light.
“As a child, I loved the magic of the night in the countryside. A firefly emitted a delicate glow, creating a spiral of light and fadinglines across the darkening sky. Over time, our street corners became harshly bright. The canvas of darkness that allowed the firefly to paint with light is no longer.Male and female fireflies can no longer see each others’ glow.Their eternal attraction extinguished. Our ambivalent yet wasteful habits of daily life consume massiveamounts of energy and destroy not only small insects… but nature itself. The lesson is clear, a new consciousness towards energy must inspire amore personal and responsible approach to design. Too much light… endangers our life. The firefly returns as inspiration. Introducing a personalized light in whichyou can choose its size and brightness according to your need. Our nightscan be beautiful again while being responsible for the energy we share.”
The City Dark, a documentary film about light pollution by Ian Cheney, premiered at the Austin music festival South by Southwest(SXSW) in March. This film,takes advange of the poetic force to lead us to some topical issues related to light pollution and, as a consequence, to outdoor lightingh design.What do we lose when we lost the night?
