#alan2023 — Public Fediverse posts

I lost my dad Aug 13 (#lightpollution #ALAN tweeps, yes, last day of #ALAN2023).
It's been a really hard 6 yrs, 2 mos, & 1 wk of #eldercare (not counting current Death Paperwork--don't get me started).
May your journey with your loved ones be easier than mine.

https://www.lansingfuneralhome.com/obituaries/robert-pritchard

I lost my dad Aug 13 (#lightpollution #ALAN tweeps, yes, last day of #ALAN2023).
It's been a really hard 6 yrs, 2 mos, & 1 wk of #eldercare (not counting current Death Paperwork--don't get me started).
May your journey with your loved ones be easier than mine.

https://www.lansingfuneralhome.com/obituaries/robert-pritchard

@stfn @BobReflected @Blort Thanks for sharing this! Yes, greenhouses are a huge problem.

I saw some beautiful work from @remiboucher at the recent #ALAN2023 conference showing how greenhouses can be brighter than an entire city when seen from space. Fortunately, Remi also showed ways this can be improved with great results. 🙂

https://mastodon.social/@JohnBarentine@astrodon.social/110877522862086680

@stfn @BobReflected @Blort Thanks for sharing this! Yes, greenhouses are a huge problem.

I saw some beautiful work from @remiboucher at the recent #ALAN2023 conference showing how greenhouses can be brighter than an entire city when seen from space. Fortunately, Remi also showed ways this can be improved with great results. 🙂

https://mastodon.social/@JohnBarentine@astrodon.social/110877522862086680

@skyglowberlin you mentioned at #ALAN2023 that you worked on a file with ~200 dark sky places’ areas that you gave to Ruskin. Are you also waiting on them before turning ON this layer on lightpollutionmap.info?

@skyglowberlin you mentioned at #ALAN2023 that you worked on a file with ~200 dark sky places’ areas that you gave to Ruskin. Are you also waiting on them before turning ON this layer on lightpollutionmap.info?

@sundogplanets @bobjonkman All of those sound like great options! I fear the market may be a little niche, but I'm definitely game. 😂

Great to see a fellow #ALAN2023 Sam too! 🙂

@sundogplanets @bobjonkman All of those sound like great options! I fear the market may be a little niche, but I'm definitely game. 😂

Great to see a fellow #ALAN2023 Sam too! 🙂

@remiboucher Thank you, Remi. Great to be here!

I really enjoyed your talk about greenhouses at #ALAN2023. A shame I didn’t manage to bump into you for a chat. Good luck with all of the work you're doing with mitigation though. Looks some promising initial results. 🙂

@remiboucher Thank you, Remi. Great to be here!

I really enjoyed your talk about greenhouses at #ALAN2023. A shame I didn’t manage to bump into you for a chat. Good luck with all of the work you're doing with mitigation though. Looks some promising initial results. 🙂

Anyone else who went to #ALAN2023 still have jetlag? You'd think I'd have trouble with mornings, but it's the afternoons that are somehow the hardest for me... 🥱

Anyone else who went to #ALAN2023 still have jetlag? You'd think I'd have trouble with mornings, but it's the afternoons that are somehow the hardest for me... 🥱

Lovely drive home! I noticed lots of terrible lighting practices on the way through Regina+suburbs that I'm now much more aware of, and then said a big "HELLO I LOVE YOU" to the Milky Way when I got out of my car under my beautiful dark skies that I appreciate even more after the #ALAN2023 conference.

(I also sent some quiet hate to a couple of satellites, but tried to focus on the beautiful Milky Way behind them)

Lovely drive home! I noticed lots of terrible lighting practices on the way through Regina+suburbs that I'm now much more aware of, and then said a big "HELLO I LOVE YOU" to the Milky Way when I got out of my car under my beautiful dark skies that I appreciate even more after the #ALAN2023 conference.

(I also sent some quiet hate to a couple of satellites, but tried to focus on the beautiful Milky Way behind them)

I'm curious #lightpollution #ALAN "tweeps" (what's the new term, folx? meeps?):
Do you think the defn of "blue light" (in nm*) is (still) contested?
#ALAN2023

*Present Sara still continues to laugh because Past Sara would have been, like, WTF

I'm curious #lightpollution #ALAN "tweeps" (what's the new term, folx? meeps?):
Do you think the defn of "blue light" (in nm*) is (still) contested?
#ALAN2023

*Present Sara still continues to laugh because Past Sara would have been, like, WTF

I would really, really like to see those with expertise in alternatives to the information deficit model share their knowledge with the #ALAN #lightpollution community.
#ALAN2023

As #ALAN2023 comes to a close, announcements are made for LPTMM 2024, the next European Symposium, and #ALAN2025 (28-30 October 2025 in Westport, Ireland)

Guenat: However, we *did* find evidence for shifting-baseline syndrome in terms of perceptions of the actual impacts of ALAN. We interpret this as indicating a need for improved messaging to better convey the significance of its harms. #ALAN2023

Guenat: As Swiss people were exposed to more ALAN (as determined from satellite remote sensing data), they tended to think that ALAN in their environment was excessive. Suggests that they are not subject to 'shifting baseline syndrome'. #ALAN2023

Solène Guenat (Swiss Federal Research Institute) presents results of surveys of people in Switzerland on attitudes toward ALAN. High support for technological innovations, information campaigns; low support for financial disincentives, turning off street lights. #ALAN2023

In Q&A, Keren Levy suggests the possibility of putting caged insects in different parts of a city to examine the impact of artificial light (or other pollutants) in a more natural environment than is possible in the laboratory. That sounds really cool to me!
#ALAN2023

@Radetl Thanks, Leora. It wasn't a specific question -- more a broader, philosophical and political question about solution approaches, such as market v. regulatory, which often varies by country and culture. #ALAN2023

@nonaschulteroemer asks another #STS inflected question about how (scientific) initiatives and infrastructures can foster and facilitate more conversations across even subfields within ecology -- such as researchers are working on #ALAN and bugs/bats/fish/etc.
#ALAN2023

That finishes my time at #ALAN2023 (I am sad to miss last session, but I have a loooong drive and a partner who is taking care of the entire farm and our kids alone right now, gotta get back)

I am so grateful I got to come, I had amazing discussions with incredible people working on a really important problem from many different directions. I look forward to working more with several people I met here!

Now for the long drive home across the beautiful prairie.

That finishes my time at #ALAN2023 (I am sad to miss last session, but I have a loooong drive and a partner who is taking care of the entire farm and our kids alone right now, gotta get back)

I am so grateful I got to come, I had amazing discussions with incredible people working on a really important problem from many different directions. I look forward to working more with several people I met here!

Now for the long drive home across the beautiful prairie.

I’m a bit sad I had to leave a bit too early and miss the rest of the day at #ALAN2023
It was great to see again or meet all the awesome people part of that conference. Hoping to keep in touch with many of you in the future.

I’m a bit sad I had to leave a bit too early and miss the rest of the day at #ALAN2023
It was great to see again or meet all the awesome people part of that conference. Hoping to keep in touch with many of you in the future.

C. Hermans: bats use darkness for avoiding predators. But their food is attracted to artificial light so that'll change their behaviours.

Using dark site in the Netherlands with different colour streetlights. Responses by bats are species dependent.

Use LIDAR/acoustic tracking, neat plots of bats avoiding light and vegetation while flying. Red lights cause the least change in both bat and insect behaviour, white light causes the most.

#ALAN2023

C. Hermans: bats use darkness for avoiding predators. But their food is attracted to artificial light so that'll change their behaviours.

Using dark site in the Netherlands with different colour streetlights. Responses by bats are species dependent.

Use LIDAR/acoustic tracking, neat plots of bats avoiding light and vegetation while flying. Red lights cause the least change in both bat and insect behaviour, white light causes the most.

#ALAN2023

Claire Hermans (Netherlands Institute of Ecology) used a combination of acoustic tracking of bats and LiDAR scans of the environment to reconstruct the foraging behavior of bats exposed to different experimental light treatments in the field. #ALAN2023

Claire Hermans on spatial interaction of #ALAN and vegetation for bats.
Environmental historian here -- #ALAN always occurs in multiple contexts. Environmental factors like vegetation, clouds, season, etc. matter.

Yes, it's an #envirotech phenomenon.
#ALAN2023

Claire Hermans on spatial interaction of #ALAN and vegetation for bats.
Environmental historian here -- #ALAN always occurs in multiple contexts. Environmental factors like vegetation, clouds, season, etc. matter.

Yes, it's an #envirotech phenomenon.
#ALAN2023

My favorite pun at #ALAN2023 so far, by Matthew Hatfield from the University of Southampton.

"Very fishy" was also good.

Hatfield's two fish puns refreshing after all the light puns.
#ALAN2023

M. Hatfield: studying brown trout and european eels' response to artificial light while kept in tanks and filmed, took blood samples at end of study period.

(not going to post specifics because he doesn't want pre-published results shared yet)

Did see some significant differences, and some "fishy" results... analysis ongoing.

#ALAN2023

M. Hatfield: studying brown trout and european eels' response to artificial light while kept in tanks and filmed, took blood samples at end of study period.

(not going to post specifics because he doesn't want pre-published results shared yet)

Did see some significant differences, and some "fishy" results... analysis ongoing.

#ALAN2023

Matthew Hatfield argues for more research on #ALAN and aquatic environments.
See earlier programmatic essay by Perkin et al., "The influence of artificial light on stream and riparian ecosystems: questions, challenges, and perspectives" (2011)
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/ES11-00241.1
#ALAN2023

Matthew Hatfield argues for more research on #ALAN and aquatic environments.
See earlier programmatic essay by Perkin et al., "The influence of artificial light on stream and riparian ecosystems: questions, challenges, and perspectives" (2011)
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/ES11-00241.1
#ALAN2023

Matthew Hatfield (@unisouthampton) presents some of his dissertation research on brown trout and European eels. Notes little research on ALAN in aquatic environments; of 118 posters and talks at #ALAN2023, only eight are about aquatic environments and two are about fish.

The fraction of #ALAN2023 talks given by graduate students seems to be higher than in past editions of the conference — an indication of the ongoing increase of interest in the topic of light pollution and its steady professionalization in academia.

Andy Jechow acknowledges limits of long-term experimental infrastructure and research possibilities, but can Evelien Castrop investigate impact of blue light on plants?
Very #STS point abt infrastructural constraints in technoscience #ALAN2023

Evelien Castrop (Leiden University) looked at the effects of different colored light on two plant species (H. radicata and R. acetosa) in a controlled experiment, finding differences in leaf length and transpiration with implications for plant community resilience. #ALAN2023

E. Castrop: Looking at how plants respond to light pollution: morphology, phenology (flowers), respiration. Out in national park field site with different colour lights, looked at 2 native species responses.

With light: get increased leaf length, increase in night transpiration, differences in net photosynthesis

#ALAN2023

E. Castrop: Looking at how plants respond to light pollution: morphology, phenology (flowers), respiration. Out in national park field site with different colour lights, looked at 2 native species responses.

With light: get increased leaf length, increase in night transpiration, differences in net photosynthesis

#ALAN2023

Passing comment from Mona Storms during her talk abt #ALAN and nocturnal pollinators:
"It was very dark in the forest. I didn't feel that comfortable sitting there in the night."
I've heard this from other women field scientists.

This concern needs to be *heard* by #lightpollution community. #ALAN2023
For ex, https://www.science.org/content/article/sexual-harassment-common-scientific-fieldwork

Passing comment from Mona Storms during her talk abt #ALAN and nocturnal pollinators:
"It was very dark in the forest. I didn't feel that comfortable sitting there in the night."
I've heard this from other women field scientists.

This concern needs to be *heard* by #lightpollution community. #ALAN2023
For ex, https://www.science.org/content/article/sexual-harassment-common-scientific-fieldwork

M. Stroms: moths use the moon for orienting themselves, how do streetlights disrupt this? Release moths to find pheromone trap. When there is a streetlight on between release and trap, they take a lot longer to get there and sometimes don't arrive.

LED lights in particular increase flight duration (this is bad). Interestingly, in an already-bright environment, these effects are less.

#ALAN2023

M. Stroms: moths use the moon for orienting themselves, how do streetlights disrupt this? Release moths to find pheromone trap. When there is a streetlight on between release and trap, they take a lot longer to get there and sometimes don't arrive.

LED lights in particular increase flight duration (this is bad). Interestingly, in an already-bright environment, these effects are less.

#ALAN2023

So. Many. Thoughts. About. This. Panel. And. Potentialities.
#ALAN2023 #environmentaljustice #decolonization #antiracist research

#ALAN2023 Dark Sky Thread
by @sundogplanets

https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/110883233996325505

#ALAN2023 Dark Sky Thread
by @sundogplanets

https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/110883233996325505

Sam offers some ideas for ways by which dark-sky advocates can begin the work of decolonizing this space and creating meaningful and sustained engagement with Native American tribes. #ALAN2023

Doug Sam notes that, according to the Kaibab Band of Paiutes (the world's first 'dark sky nation'), after their DarkSky accreditation mountain sheep were seen to return to their lands for the first time in many years. This was seen by them as an auspicious event. #ALAN2023

Pueblo observatories for measuring sun and moon cycles. These practices are still onging despite colonial attempts to wipe this out. Utes were pushed off land of Mesa Verde into more marginal land.

International Dark Sky certification sought out all 26 tribes for consent. Good start! This should be required for all dark sky sites - building relationships is incredibly important. Dark sky advocates need to think about what they can give back to tribes (without white saviorism!)

#ALAN2023

Doug Sam: The dark-sky movement has much more work to with respect to indigenous involvement.
#ALAN2023

Doug Sam cites
Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies
Research and Indigenous Peoples
https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/decolonizing-methodologies-9781786998125/
#ALAN2023

Doug Sam: studying Mesa Verde in collaboration with Indigenous people - Mesa Verde was one of the first few National Parks, and is now a dark sky site.

Important to talk about history of National Parks where Indigenous people were often forcibly removed, astronomical sites are often on sacred mountains [I am programming my observations on CFHT on Maunakea while watching this talk oooohhhh man....]

Important to welcome astronomers from native/Indigenous cultures! Yes!

#ALAN2023

Preliminary study results from cohort of nurses in Catalonia (COVICAT study). See an increased risk of long COVID in 2023 among those who worked night shift in 2021. There also seems to be a link between sleep problems and long COVID (same mechanism?) Still more work to do with measuring confounding variables before publishing this.

I guess the takeaway is getting good sleep is important!

#ALAN2023