[OL-Forum] Digest Number 2396

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1. IDA Congressional Staff Briefing on Light Pollution    
    From: Travis Longcore


Message
________________________________________________________________________
1. IDA Congressional Staff Briefing on Light Pollution
    Posted by: "Travis Longcore" longcore@urbanwildlands... travislongcore
    Date: Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:22 am ((PDT))

Dear OLFers,

I am generally not one to post, but it seems there is considerable interest in the briefing in 
Washington, DC this past friday.  I was an invited speaker at this event and thank the IDA, 
especially Kim Patten and Milt Roney, for the opportunity to participate.  My brief report 
follows.

The IDA Congressional staff briefing was held in a hearing room of the Science and 
Technology Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.  This room is located in the  
Rayburn Office Building, which is an imposing structure across the street from the Capitol 
itself.  

The audience was made up of staff of congressmembers, a contingent from the Green the 
Capitol program (http://cao.house.gov/greenthecapitol/), DC representatives of 
astronomical groups, and representatives from conservation groups (American Bird 
Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife, National Parks Conservation Association).  I believe 
there were at least 50-60 people attending.   The staffers represented an even mix of 
Democrats and Republicans.  

Kelly Beatty of Sky & Telescope presented the introduction and covered the general 
issue of light pollution, including degradation of views of night skies and glare.  He also 
covered summaries of the other issues that would be discussed: energy efficiency, 
environmental consequences, and human health effects.  

Lee Cooper from Pacific Gas & Electric presented the utility perspective.  Because of the 
unique regulatory environment in California, utilities have significant incentives to invest 
in efficiency.  Where efficiency overlaps with reduction in light pollution, PG&E is interested 
in providing products to meet those needs.  Lee described a test of new LED streetlights in 
Oakland, California.   The new lights are full cut-off, more efficient, and provide greater 
color rendition.  Lee suggested that parking lots and structures could be excellent places 
to achieve efficiency from use of LED lighting by taking advantage of the ability of these 
lights to be easily dimmed and reducing illumination when sites are not occupied by using 
motion detectors.   Lee presented figures suggesting the magnitude of savings that could 
be achieved with more efficient lighting.

I followed Lee with a presentation on the ecological effects of night lighting.  I gave 
examples of direct mortality (birds, turtles, insects), disruption of reproduction (corals, 
fireflies), and interference with ecological interactions such as predation (petrels/gulls, 
salmon/seals, mice/owls, etc.).  I then suggested that innovative solutions were available 
that could be tailored to specific situations.  I pointed out that we invest a lot of money in 
our parks and conservation areas and these investments will be undermined if the 
nighttime environment is not considered and protected.  

Dr. David Blask from the Bassett Research Institute followed with a thorough explanation 
of the mechanism by which artificial light disrupts human circadian rhythms, with special 
attention to the connection between exposure to light at night and increased cancer risk.  
He explained that light suppresses melatonin and that melatonin suppresses cancer 
growth.  He reviewed the newly published research from Israel and presented the 
conclusions of the World Health Organization, which is now recognizing the probability 
that shift work (through exposure to light at night) is carcinogenic.  The reason that it is 
shift-work and not light at night is a result of the strength of the studies available.  The 
presumed mechanism is circadian disruption, but insufficient evidence is currently 
available to prove this assumption conclusively.  Specifically, the WHO's International 
Agency for Research on Cancer has reported that "On the basis of `limited evidence in 
humans for the carcinogenicity of shift-work that involves nightwork', and `sufficient 
evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of light during the daily dark 
period (biological night)', the Working Group concluded that `shift-work that involves 
circadian disruption is probably carcinogenic to humans'" (WHO IARC Cancer Monograph 
Working Group 2007).   Dr. Blask was quite compelling in his description of the mechanism 
of light at night in promoting cancer growth.  We should all sleep in the dark.

Terry McGowan of the IDA concluded the presentation by summarizing the points made 
and asking that staff members sign on to a letter being circulated by congressmembers 
Culberson, Giffords, and Israel that calls on the Environmental Protection Agency to define 
light pollution and incorporate research on it into their programs, including by educating 
the public through programs such as Energy Star.  

All of this took place within an hour while the attendees consumed the box lunches 
provided.  The question and answer period was relatively short.  In discussions following 
the program, I found that those staffers with whom I spoke were interested in the issue 
and impressed with the presentation as a whole.  

If any OLFers in the US wish to follow up on this briefing, please contact your 
Congressmember and ask her or him to sign on to the letter from Culberson (R-TX), 
Giffords (D-AZ), and Israel (D-NY) to the EPA on light pollution by contacting any of their 
offices.

I have posted links to two recent articles that Dr. Blask circulated in the briefing packet on 
the OLF site at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OutdoorLighting-Forum/links/Health_Effects_of_Light_at_Night_001214185685/

Dark skies,
Travis

--
Travis Longcore, Ph.D. 
Science Director, The Urban Wildlands Group
Director of Urban Ecological Research, USC Center for Sustainable Cities
Lecturer, UCLA Institute of the Environment
longcore@urbanwildlands...



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