Protecting Leelanau’s dark skies from light pollution

By Sandra Serra Bradshaw

Sun contributor

“Light pollution is one of the only types of pollution that’s completely and immediately reversible.” – Bettymaya Foott, International Dark Sky Association

It has become a global problem—electrical light pollution is sending its ever-brightening rays, hiding the night sky in place after place and there is no end in sight. In today’s world, city and suburban residents have lost sight of much of earth’s spectacular nighttime universe. At night a peachy orange glow is casting an ever-widening ominous circumference in the Grand Traverse region.

Each year more man-made lights compete with Mother Nature’s spectacular evening artwork of the Moon, other celestial bodies and billions of stars in space. The sky is now off-colored approximately halfway up both the Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsulas and the rest of the outlying areas in an ever-widening circle. Can you imagine life “Up North” unable to admire the Milky Way and other galaxies with the naked eye, or to not be able to watch in awe at the spectacular and sometimes colorful northern lights?

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore offers star gazing and night sky programs periodically through the summer. Check out www.NPS.gov/slbe for information and updates.

For eons all life on Earth has relied on its once predictable rhythms that clearly distinguished both day and night. So much so it is encoded in the DNA of all life on our planet. It is not just about seeing the night sky with its massive array of celestial bodies. Plants and animals depend on Earth’s daily cycle of light and dark to govern life-sustaining behaviors.  These include migration, reproduction, nourishment, sleep and protection from predators. Over the last hundred years or so, with the introduction of electric lighting, much of this has become challenging for Earth’s species to cope with. Scientists have studied the effect that artificial light at night has and have found it has become dangerous or even deadly to our precious planet’s inhabitants. It is affecting much of life from the lowly earth worm to the tallest tree, and many other living things in between.

Glare from artificial lights impacts wetland habitats, home to amphibians such as frogs and toads, where darkness brings on their nighttime croaking, an integral part of their breeding ritual.  Mankind’s imposition of artificial light disrupt this nocturnal activity, interfering with reproduction and reducing populations of many species. Just one more of harmful human behaviors introduced by mankind for the planet’s creatures to contend with.  Everything is connected in one giant ecosystem. What we do affects not just ourselves, but the very intricacy of all around us. That flood light you think you must have? Think of its consequences.  Many insects are drawn to its light, and it often can create a fatal attraction. Weneed those night flying creatures. Today’s declining insect populations negatively impact all species that rely on insects for food and/or pollination. Even more profound, some predators exploit this attraction to their advantage, thus affecting food webs in unanticipated ways.

“Nocturnal animals sleep during the day and are active at night. Light pollution radically alters their nighttime environment by turning night into day,” wrote scientist Christopher Kyba for International Dark Sky (IDS).  Based in Tuscon, Arizona, this is a grassroots organization, and has become a world-wide network which connects  and shares practices and tools to protect night skies across the entire globe.  Kyba, who researches nocturnal animals reported that “the introduction of artificial light probably represents the most drastic change human beings have made to their environment.  Predators use light to hunt, and prey species use darkness as cover.  Near cities, cloudy skies are now hundreds, or even thousands of times brighter than they were 100 to 200 years ago. We are only beginning to learn what a drastic effect this has had on nocturnal ecology.”

Birds that migrate or hunt at night navigate by moonlight and starlight. Human’s introduction of artificial lighting can cause them to fall of their proper course into the dangerous feigned nighttime lit landscapes of cities. Sadly, each year millions of birds die colliding with needlessly illuminated buildings and towers. Migratory birds depend on cues from Nature – properly timed seasonal schedules.  Mankind’s artificially introduced lights can cause them to migrate too early or too late and miss ideal climate conditions for nesting, foraging and other behaviors.

There is so much that this light disruption causes that this small article can only touch upon, but begs we all take note.  Preserving our dark skies was a topic posed to citizens of Leelanau County by the Leelanau County Community Planning Department.  Most thought protecting our dark skies important. But it has its caveats. “Lighting can be tricky,” said Trudy Galla, Leelanau County Planning & Community Director.  “What if you live on a hill,” was a question she posed.  “You are complying to the lighting specifications we have in place in our townships. You carefully follow recommendations and face your outdoor lighting downward (so as to be as unobtrusive as possible).  But what about the homes or traffic below you?”

In line with protecting our night skies locally, Leelanau Energy was founded in 2008 by a diverse group of farmers, engineers, economists, scientists, teachers, attorneys, public administrators, and energy experts. Each shared common interests relating to renewable energy and energy conservation. First calling themselves the Northport Energy Group, by 2010, growing in size -and  seriousness – renamed themselves the Northport Energy Action Taskforce and became a registered 501 (c) 3 non-profit. In 2019 the Board of Directors approved the name Leelanau Energy as one more appropriate for a future that included an expanded mission statement that encompassed the entire Leelanau peninsula.

“Many people think Dark Sky is only about seeing stars; it’s not. It’s a pretty basic concept—reduce light pollution. Less light pollution benefits human health, nocturnal wildlife, plants, provides energy savings, directs light where needed for safety, AND allows the natural night sky to be observed and enjoyed,” said  Leelanau Township resident Phyllis Rebori,co-chair of the Dark Sky Committee group of Leelanau Energy (a standing sub-committee within Leelanau Energy’s organization).

“Yosemite National Park, in monitoring dark skies, says two-thirds of Americans can’t see the Milky Way from their back yard and if these current trends (of light pollution) continue, there will be almost no dark skies left in the contiguous United States by 2025,” said Rebori of a report she heard on NPR.

Dick Cookman, retired science professor at Northwestern Michigan College, astronomer, and owner of the Enerdyne in Suttons Bay, probably knows the night skies better than most of us.”Around two-hundred years ago, you could see the night sky from the middle of London,” he said. “But with the introduction of electric lights, our view of the night skies diminished.” Surprisingly he touched upon an article I wrote years back about the “Orange Glow,” a light emanating out from Traverse City and up into Leelanau County. Just take note next time you are driving south down M-22 from northern Leelanau County.

“If you look south from West Grand Traverse Bay towards Traverse City you will see an ionized oxygen glow in the sky. What is happening is the photons from all the street lights, and other lights go up and ionize the oxygen,” he explained. “The ionized oxygen gets all excited…..when it calms down, it gives off an orange glow. This excitement means when the electron clouds surrounding the oxygen nucleus is pumped up to higher energy. When they fall back that is what creates the Orange Glow,”  wish I had known those details long ago to share..

In caring for our community and the environment, there are outdoor lighting basics all of us should try to comply with. Today, in our modern society, outdoor lighting has become a requirement for a variety of needs, including safety and commerce. IDS recognizes this but advocates that any required lighting be used wisely, and not infringe upon our neighbors, nor the nighttime sky. To minimize the harmful effects of light pollution, there are simple steps we all can follow in our homes; Outdoor lighting should face downward and only be on when it is truly needed, and only fall into the location it is meant to illuminate.  It should be no brighter than necessary.

Minimize blue light emissions as these new technical capabilities often come with unanticipated challenges. Blue-rich white light sources increase glare and may hurt human vision.  While driving these lights create potential road safety problems for motorists and pedestrians alike. Blue light at night has been shown to adversely affect wildlife behavior and reproduction. Every effort should be made to diminish or eliminate blue light exposure after dark. Yes, we all must do our research to protect our environment, our homes, our neighbors, and ultimately, the Earth.