Whitening the Sky: light pollution as a form of cultural genocide
Duane W. Hamacher 1, Krystal De Napoli 2, and Bon Mott 3
1 ASTRO-3D Centre of Excellence, School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia. 2 School of Physics & Astronomy, Monash University, Clayton VIC, 3080, Australia
3 Faculty of Fine Arts & Music, University of Melbourne, Southbank, VIC, 3006, Australia

Abstract: Light pollution is actively destroying our ability to see the stars. Many Indigenous traditions
and knowledge systems around the world are based on the stars, and the peoples’ ability to observe
and interpret stellar positions and properties is of critical importance for daily life and cultural
continuity. The erasure of the night sky acts to erase Indigenous connection to the stars, acting as a
form of ongoing cultural and ecological genocide. Efforts to reduce, minimise, or eliminate light
pollution are being achieved with varying degrees of success, but urban expansion, poor lighting
design, and the increased use of blue-light emitting LEDs as a cost-effective solution is worsening
problems related to human health, wildlife, and astronomical heritage for the benefit of capitalistic
economic growth. We provide a brief overview of the issue, illustrating some of the important
connections that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia maintain with the stars,
as well as the impact growing light pollution has on this ancient knowledge. We propose a
transdisciplinary approach to solving these issues, using a foundation based on Indigenous
philosophies and decolonising methodologies.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.11527

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2001/2001.11527.pdf

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The United Nations’ Office of Outer Space Affairs is considering issues of light pollution spanning from streetlights to satellites.

BY: MONICA YOUNG OCTOBER 22, 2021

The statistics are stunning: More than 80% of the world’s population (and more than 99% of those in the U.S. and Europe) live under light-polluted skies. Most people can’t see the Milky Way. All this artificial sky glow has real impacts, affecting everything from insect reproduction to bird migration to crop yields to human health. Yet over the last 25 years, light pollution has only increased, by at least 50% overall — and in some areas, it’s up 400%.

More recently, the problem of light pollution has expanded in an unexpected way. The growing number of artificial satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) are increasingly adding moving lights, glints, and even diffuse glow to the night sky. Over the past two years, the number of active and defunct satellites has doubled, to a total of about 5,000 as of March 30, 2021. And companies have filed to launch tens of thousands more into orbit within the decade. While astronomers have always traveled away from civilization to reach darker skies, now satellites will streak across the fields of view of even the most rural telescopes.

Astronomers are engaging with satellite companies, such as in two conferences dubbed SATCON1 and SATCON2, which took place in the summers of 2020 and 2021, respectively. But the challenges facing satellite operators and astronomers alike are daunting.

Now, to bring the issue to a higher level — and address ground-based and space-based lights in one fell swoop — these issues are going to the United Nations. Astronomers, dark-sky advocates, industry representatives, and members of the UN’s Office for Outer Space Affairs took part in the Dark and Quiet Skies for Science and Society workshop on October 3–7, 2021. (The conference was virtual, not because of COVID-19 but because of an active volcano in La Palma, Spain, which was where the workshop was to have taken place.)

ARTIFICIAL LIGHTS AT NIGHT

Reducing light pollution doesn’t have to mean eliminating lights; outdoor lighting just needs to be directed where it is needed, when it is needed. And critically, any outdoor lights should be amber-colored, rather than the white/blue LEDs that disrupt the circadian rhythms of humans and wildlife alike.

Simple enough, right? So why aren’t we doing these things? Some individual cities have instituted dark-sky lighting ordinances. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, did so recently, and Tucson and Flagstaff in Arizona have and continue to implement even stricter measures in place, in part to protect nearby observatories. Representatives from Morocco and China gave updates during the conference on dark-sky efforts, and Andreas Hänel (Dark Sky Germany) reported that his country has particularly strong participation in dark-sky measures.

While such grass roots actions are difficult to implement and unevenly distributed, they also provide crucial examples to guide broader policies. “You want best practices that can be applied internationally, unilaterally, for all satellites,” suggested space diplomat Peter Martinez. “Use the outcomes of bottom-up efforts as inputs to move toward a set of international guidelines that could be adopted by the UN General Assembly.”

However, the secretary of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses for Outer Space (COPUOS), Niklas Hedman, cautioned that the committee might not consider ground-based light pollution as part of their purview. “We have to be careful so COPUOS doesn’t dismiss it,” he said at a final roundtable.

Read more at: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/taking-dark-skies-to-the-united-nations/

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ABSTRACT

In the growing tension of discussing human development, sustainability is endorsed as the answer to providing a just and balanced resolution. A notion of sustaining one field is defined as the notion to preserve and conserve the available resources for the sake of current and future consumption. However, there are many regards to sustainability, particularly one interpreted by the Brundtland commission, to be ambiguous and inoperative. An ambiguous concept of sustainability leads to mismanaged city development and urban growth that overlooks the danger of light pollution, which adversely affects human welfare. Given this phenomenon, this paper seeks to examine the dangers of light pollution under the framework Islamic Jurisprudence Principle of Maqasid Shariah. To draw parameters on how this concept could be well adopted in sustain light pollution, the elements and principles embedded in this holistic concept shall then appraised. This study adopts a qualitative method based on content and doctrinal analysis in reviewing and analyzing relevant documents, commission, and other literary work. The study shows that framing the dangers of light pollution, Maqasid Shariah covers a more comprehensive, including the perseveration of human life, intellectual, progeny and property. This study further submits and considers the extent to which the recommendations drawn from this study would enhance the understanding of light pollution threat amongst the city planner, economic player, and policymaker, thereby mitigating and reducing the light pollution crisis.

https://jfatwa.usim.edu.my/index.php/jfatwa/article/view/390

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First direct observation of magnetic field affecting autofluorescence of flavins in living cells.

Summary: New research shows how X-Men villain Magneto’s super powers could really work. Researchers have made the first observations of biological magnetoreception – live, unaltered cells responding to a magnetic field in real time. This discovery is a crucial step in understanding how animals from birds to butterflies navigate using Earth’s magnetic field and addressing the question of whether weak electromagnetic fields in our environment might affect human health.

FULL STORY

Researchers in Japan have made the first observations of biological magnetoreception — live, unaltered cells responding to a magnetic field in real time. This discovery is a crucial step in understanding how animals from birds to butterflies navigate using Earth’s magnetic field and addressing the question of whether weak electromagnetic fields in our environment might affect human health.

“The joyous thing about this research is to see that the relationship between the spins of two individual electrons can have a major effect on biology,” said Professor Jonathan Woodward from the University of Tokyo, who conducted the research with doctoral student Noboru Ikeya. The results were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

Researchers have suspected since the 1970s that because magnets can attract and repel electrons, Earth’s magnetic field, also called the geomagnetic field, could influence animal behavior by affecting chemical reactions. When some molecules are excited by light, an electron can jump from one molecule to another and create two molecules with single electrons, known as a radical pair. The single electrons can exist in one of two different spin states. If the two radicals have the same electron spin, their subsequent chemical reactions are slow, while radical pairs with opposite electron spins can react faster. Magnetic fields can influence electron spin states and thus directly influence chemical reactions involving radical pairs. Read more at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210105104832.htm

Article Reference: University of Tokyo. “Magnets dim natural glow of human cells, may shed light on how animals migrate: First direct observation of magnetic field affecting autofluorescence of flavins in living cells.” ScienceDaily. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210105104832.htm>

Journal Reference:

1. Noboru Ikeya, Jonathan R. Woodward. Cellular autofluorescence is magnetic field sensitive. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021; 118 (3): e2018043118 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2018043118

Significance

The radical pair mechanism is the favored hypothesis for explaining biological effects of weak magnetic fields, such as animal magnetoreception and possible adverse health effects. To date, however, there is no direct experimental evidence for magnetic effects on radical pair reactions in cells, the fundamental building blocks of living systems. In this paper, using a custom-built microscope, we demonstrate that flavin-based autofluorescence in native, untreated HeLa cells is magnetic field sensitive, due to the formation and electron spin–selective recombination of spin-correlated radical pairs. This work thus provides a direct link between magnetic field effects on chemical reactions measured in solution and chemical reactions taking place in living cells.

Abstract

We demonstrate, by direct, single-cell imaging kinetic measurements, that endogenous autofluorescence in HeLa cells is sensitive to the application of external magnetic fields of 25 mT and less. We provide spectroscopic and mechanistic evidence that our findings can be explained in terms of magnetic field effects on photoinduced electron transfer reactions to flavins, through the radical pair mechanism. The observed magnetic field dependence is consistent with a triplet-born radical pair and a B_1/2 value of 18.0 mT with a saturation value of 3.7%.

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/3/e2018043118

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Abstract

Background

There is a rapid development in technologies that generate weak static magnetic fields (SMF) including high-voltage direct current (HVDC) lines, systems operating with batteries, such as electric cars, and devices using permanent magnets. However, few reviews on the effects of such fields on biological systems have been prepared and none of these evaluations have had a particular focus on weak SMF (≤ 1 mT). The aim of this review was to systematically analyze and evaluate possible effects of weak SMF (≤ 1 mT) on biological functioning and to provide an update on the current state of research.

Methods

This review was prepared in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement. Methodological limitations in individual studies were assessed using the Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT) Risk-of-Bias Rating Tool.

Results

Eleven studies fulfilled the eligibility criteria and were included in this review. All included studies were experimental animal studies as no human studies were among the eligible articles. Eight of the eleven studies reported responses of rat, rabbits and quails to weak SMF exposure that were expressed as altered melatonin biosynthesis, reduced locomotor activity, altered vasomotion and blood pressure, transient changes in blood pressure-related biochemical parameters, or in the level of neurotransmitters and increases in enzyme activities. It remained largely unclear from the interpretation of the results whether the reported effects in the evaluated studies were beneficial or detrimental for health.

Conclusion

The available evidence from the literature reviewed is not sufficient to draw a conclusion for biological and health-related effects of exposure to weak SMF. There was a lack of homogeneity regarding the exposed biological systems and the examined endpoints as well as a lack of scientific rigor in most reviewed studies which lowered credibility in the reported results. We therefore encourage further and more systematic research in this area. Any new studies should particularly address effects of exposure to SMF on biological functioning in humans to evaluate whether SMF pose a risk to human health.

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A short video seeks to stem the rising tide of light pollution, which is robbing Earth of its dark night skies.

Light pollution doesn’t just make it more difficult for professional and backyard astronomers to observe the heavens, according to the 6.5-minute film, which is called “Losing the Dark.” The loss of darkness also disrupts wildlife, wastes resources and adversely impacts human health.

“Exposure to light at night disrupts the circadian rhythms that regulate our sleep cycles,” narrator Carolyn Collins Petersen says in the video, which was created by the International Dark Sky Association in collaboration with Loch Ness Productions as a public service announcement. “People working at night under bright lights or living in light-polluted cities face a higher risk of developing diseases such as breast and prostrate cancer.”

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Abstract

The cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus is a model organism for the study of circadian rhythms. It is naturally competent for transformation—that is, it takes up DNA from the environment, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here, we use a genome-wide screen to identify genes required for natural transformation in S. elongatus, including genes encoding a conserved Type IV pilus, genes known to be associated with competence in other bacteria, and others. Pilus biogenesis occurs daily in the morning, while natural transformation is maximal when the onset of darkness coincides with the dusk circadian peak. Thus, the competence state in cyanobacteria is regulated by the circadian clock and can adapt to seasonal changes of day length. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15384-9

Further reading

Researchers Uncover Importance of Aligning Biological Clock with Day-Night Cycles

Bacterial model shows DNA incorporation depends on the peaks and valleys of circadian rhythms

Timing is everything. A fresh example supporting the old saying has been found in connection with the systems regulated by biological clocks.

Research on circadian rhythms, our internal 24-hour patterns that affect sleep-wake and metabolic cycles, has shown that timing is key for human health. When our activities and internal circadian clocks are out of step with the natural day-night cycle—for example, in cases of irregular shift work, jet lag and poor sleep-wake habits—we increase our risk of disease because of the mistiming of important biological processes. But the genetics behind these mechanisms haven’t been well established. Read more at   https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/researchers-uncover-importance-of-aligning-biological-clock-with-day-night-cycles  

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Abstract

The fifth generation (5G) for wireless communication is about to be deployed worldwide in spite of no thorough studies being made on the potential risks to human health and the environment. The implementation seems to be driven mainly by business interests, not considering mounting public anxiety on the associated risks. In Estonia, an appeal on a moratorium was signed by 1,122 subjects, forcing a hearing in the Social Affairs Commission and the Environment Commission of Estonian Parliament on June 4, 2019. The hearing lasted for 1 h and 40 min. The whole hearing may be found on the web. It clearly demonstrated that decision‑making bodies base their decisions and act on expert statements that tend to be biased and formed by a cartel of members instead of their own science‑based evaluation. Thus, the hearing revealed a lack of knowledge among the Commission members on the risks involved with the use of 5G wireless communication that is exemplified herein. This may create negative consequences for human health and the environment in the future.

https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/wasj.2019.28

wasj.2019.28_AOP_PDF

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Humans evolved in an environment with only very bright (sun) or very dim (moon or fire) sources of light. Today, artificial lighting enables us to spend hours per day at intermediate light levels. Our recent study shows that the response of the circadian system (the ‘body clock’) to light across this intermediate range is hugely different between people.

These differences may help to explain individual differences in body clock timing, as well as how we adapt when our clock is challenged.  The body clock controls the timing of many systems in our body, including our metabolism, sleep, and how alert we feel.

Read more at:

We’re all sensitive to light at night, but some are much, much more sensitive than others

High sensitivity and interindividual variability in the response of the human circadian system to evening light

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Significance:

Electric lighting has fundamentally altered how the human circadian clock synchronizes to the day/night cycle. Exposure to light after dusk is pervasive in the modern world. We examined group-level sensitivity of the circadian system to evening light and the degree to which sensitivity varies between individuals. We found that, on average, humans are highly sensitive to evening light. Specifically, 50% suppression of melatonin occurred at <30 lux, which is comparable to or lower than typical indoor lighting used at night, as well as light produced by electronic devices. Significantly, there was a >50-fold difference in sensitivity to evening light across individuals. Interindividual differences in light sensitivity may explain differential vulnerability to circadian disruption and subsequent impact on human health.

Read more at https://www.pnas.org/content/116/24/12019.short?rss=1

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