Not Enough Darkness

I’ve often been heard muttering the phrase “there’s not enough darkness in the world” most who hear it tend to assume i’m talking about we need more death,pestilence, war, famine etc all the “bad” things rather ironic given the COVID situation but i actually mean its too bright. For a man that loves the sunshine i also embrace the night and i prefer working in the dark or reduced light environment not nightshifts though i’ve done my fair share of those, in the office i’d often be first one in and the lights would remain off until the second person arrived, at home i never turn on the main lights unless there is a need & by this i mean looking for a needle or a genuine situation where light bright enough to blind for a few moments should one care to look directly at it, is required.

Besides i like the romance of candles or low lighting.

But in general there are too many lights, the night sky is no longer lit by stars, the moon loses its majesty and nature pays a price.

There is also the consumption of energy, in these days of global warming, the desire to cut energy usage we still light the night sky like we’re afraid of the dark. One rather large gripe i have is that most roads and motorways are lit permanently at night why? i’ve got headlights? i can drive safely in the dark I’m not afraid of it and i’m quite capable of moderating my speed to suit the conditions. Should there be an accident give the emergency services an override then anyone approaching the lights knows its a good idea to slow down, put them at interchanges/exits but not every 200m or switch every alternate one off. Just think of the power we’d save.

So given the above viewpoint it was quite a surprise to see an article pop up on my news feed about Germany with the headline: Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects ok its only a draft law but imagine if it became reality, if every country did the same. The power savings alone could be impressive but if it did have a positive affect on the insect population then woop dee fucking doo dah thats a win in many ways. I know people say things were different in my day and that its a perception rather than reality but in this case its true. Things were different when i was younger, there were more bees and their hated cousin the wasp ¹, more birds & in general more nature ². Now i know it is not lighting that is solely to blame and not the biggest contributor to the decline but it is surely one of the easier things we can change without impact on us?

Shouldnt we be doing everything possible in this time? it would seem to me that even picking the easy targets such as lighting reduction would cumulatively yield benefits all around and what i dont understand is why such things are seemingly not on the table, its ok to push for the big things (removal of coal power, reduction in old automotive technology BTW i dont think the push for electric is the way forward but thats a different topic) but these things are not instant wins, they take years if not decades to achieve but in the meantime we could be doing more with simple, easy to change and positive steps.

Fair play to Germany for trying and here’s hoping the law becomes reality and its effect is proven.