#Pittsburgh, #Pennsylvania, is replacing over 33,000 high-pressure sodium #streetlights with dimmable, 2700K white LED luminaires, which are "projected to save about $942,000 a year in energy costs while tackling #LightPollution."

Pittsburgh "plans to dim the new lights between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., which will save energy and money, and, according to the city, cause less harm to migratory birds, urban wildlife and humans."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/climate/pennsylvania-pittsburgh-light-pollution.html

Next level https://lightpollutionmap.app which features:
- light pollution maps (various years)
- display dark sky locations
- weather indicator for a selected spot for astronomical observation planning
- aurora probability
- cloud cover / precipitation
- etc.

Not my development - contact the developer via
- x: https://x.com/lpm_app
- bluesky: https://lnkd.in/eud2ExqW

„When millions of people turn off their lights for Earth Hour each year, something remarkable happens in the night sky above cities. New research from Hong Kong published in Scientific Reports shows that just a small number of decorative buildings and advertising boards can dramatically brighten the entire urban night sky and when they go dark, the sky becomes up to 50% darker.“

https://phys.org/news/2025-07-bright-entire-night-sky.html

"The leading international authority that certifies dark sky parks says the artificial light from #AlligatorAlcatraz 'directly threatens' the preserve’s renowned natural darkness and disrupts endangered #nocturnal #wildlife."

https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2025/07/09/alligator-alcatraz-light-pollution-florida-everglades-big-cypress/

Shitting on lamps is not a very efficient way of fighting light pollution, but this stork is doing what it can.

New instance, new #introduction post!

The time has come for me to move on to this instance much more in line with my interests.
Gone are the many messages that I posted over the last couple of years, but I'm happy to have found a new, more like-minded community to compensate for this migration side effect.

You will find me sharing mostly #LandscapePhotography, #NightPhotography, #MacroPhotography and #BirdPhotography.

I am also interested in #astronomy and #LightPollution.

Below are a few of my landscape photos.

Among people who live in #port cities in the #UK, "light pollution appears to be the lowest priority, with only four cities saying it is a very important issue." Furthermore, "ports are least likely to receive complaints about soil and light pollution, as well as invasive species, with the majority of the sample stating they never receive these complaints."

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/12/9722

In order to fully understand how #LightPollution affects our world, we need to know how much of it is in which places. Divergent results from different measurement methods present some tension, but recent research suggests a way forward.

Read more about how we can reconcile views of the Earth at night from above and below: http://www.darkskyconsulting.com/blog/from-ground-to-sky-reconciling-light-pollution-measurements-from-above-and-below

#DarkSkies #Skyglow #RemoteSensing #VIIRS-DNB

This also suggests that artificial skyglow (a form of light pollution) is almost certainly a source of evolutionary pressure.

If you care about #Biodiversity, if you care about #GlobalChange, or if you care about #Sustainability, you should care about #LightPollution.

It's the stupidest form of #pollution, and the easiest to fix.

Reminder: my #LPS25 talk is tomorrow - literally the last talk of the conference.

But I promise it's going to be entertaining and you'll leave on a high note! Here's a sneak peak...

Happy news! It's official. I have a contract for my forthcoming book, Transforming Night: The History and Science of Light Pollution (current title) with @uwapress.bsky.social (2026).

In their pitch for a switch to LED lights, the Leeds City Council said "We believe that a reduction of 20% in night-time #crime only is a reasonable assumption in the context of Leeds."

Statistician Paul Marchant compared the rates of crime in different parts of the city as the lights were replaced over a several year period: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12061-025-09675-1

The result: no change in crime.

This will come as no surprise to anyone who has examined the existing literature on light and crime.

“Care about dark skies,”…“Because it's part of being human.”

A terrific article from our public broadcaster. Contributions from U of Regina’s own @sundogplanets
#Astronomy #NightSky #LightPollution #Canada
https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/loss-of-the-night-sky

The editors of Nature Cities invited me to write a short summary ("research briefing") of our recent paper. You can read it here: https://rdcu.be/er8X3

Full paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-025-00239-5

Late in the evening, deep in the forests of Polesia National Park. No one lives here – this is just a museum – but two strong lights keep it lit all night. I have a feeling that this might be imposed by the insurer. This is not good for nature.

Do residential windows matter for #LightPollution?

This graph from our recent paper shows how private windows turn off as the night goes on: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-025-00239-5

I just bridged to Bluesky today

ICYMI, check out this thread to find out why hundreds of citizen scientists walked 600 km counting lights in 2021: https://fediscience.org/@skyglowberlin/114692236243219137