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TOM WHEELER:

Welcome to the Econews Report. I'm your host this week, Tom Wheeler. This is a little bit of a different kind of show. So earlier this week, I hosted the KMUD Environment Show and one of my guests, Sylvia Van Royen of Humboldt Waterkeeper, joined me to talk about light pollution and efforts that Humboldt Waterkeeper and the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors are taking to address light pollution here in Humboldt County. So we are going to run that interview here on the Econews. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did interviewing Sylvia, who's just a fantastic presence. So without much further ado, here is our show.

WHEELER:

So Sylvia, you aren't terribly new at Humboldt Waterkeeper anymore, but you might be a new voice for folks on the radio who are familiar with the great work that Jen Kalt has been doing for over a decade. Would you like to introduce yourself and what you do at Humboldt Waterkeeper?

SYLVIA VAN ROYEN:

Yeah, for sure. So my name is Sylvia Van Ryan. I am a GIS and policy analyst for Humboldt Waterkeeper. I've been working with Jen for about a year now in this role. And one of the things that I've been taking the lead on is tackling light pollution through a regulatory framework and also just raising awareness.

WHEELER:

All right, well, let's understand what light pollution is in the first place. I think it's probably a little bit obvious, but it is multifaceted. So we can get into the different ways that light pollution just sucks and is bad for us and is bad for the planet. So take it away and then I'll pepper you with other things.

VAN ROYEN:

Sounds good. So, light pollution can be really any artificial light at night because, you know, the planet and all the species on it around us evolved with only the moon and the stars lighting up the night sky or the ground at night. So, humans have altered that and much of the excessive lighting that we use in order to make ourselves feel safe at night and navigate the world at night actually causes light pollution and that can affect not only our circadian rhythms but the rhythms of all of the wildlife and plants around us. For example, migratory birds are vulnerable to light pollution. It can cause them to collide with lit structures, start migration early or late, disrupt their sleep cycles, and modify the timing of even their life cycles. Plants, shockingly, also are impacted by light pollution. You wouldn't think so, but they can be and they can actually also alter the timing of their life cycles. So, if you think of the life cycles of a plant, flowering, fruiting, going to seed, if that timing is altered, wildlife that depend on those plants now don't know when that reliable plant is going to be available. They might go to that plant and because that plant is close to an urban area, it's not fruiting at the same time and now this animal doesn't have a food source where they used to have one.

WHEELER:

And so many folks in Humboldt County, they moved up here to get away from light, to get away from noise, to get away from the feeling of civilization. So many folks in the KMUD listening audience, you know, are out in the hills. And light pollution now is even a persistent issue out there. Do you want to give any kind of reflections on light pollution and maintaining a, like, Humboldt way of life?

VAN ROYEN:

Yeah, so it's honestly surprisingly easy to curb your light pollution. There's three main things that anybody can do to make their outdoor lights friendlier to wildlife and to our own circadian rhythms, and that's use less bright lights, so 1100 lumens and less. Use a warm color temperature light, so that's 2700 kelvin or less. And now light bulbs have these what are called nutrition labels, and those kind of details are right on the side of the box, so it's super easy for people to look and compare light bulbs to find the ones that are best. And then a lot of outdoor lighting actually does not have something called shielding, and what that is is just the fixture that the light bulb screws into is supposed to actually fully cover the bulb itself, and that prevents light from shooting out sideways or up into the night sky, and making sure those shields are in place is just one more step that you can do to reduce your light pollution.

WHEELER:

So, individuals have a responsibility here, as we do on so many issues, to reduce our own impacts to the environment, right? I think that we should all be more conscious about how we, you know, go out in the world, sorry, go outside, look at your house, see if you have any uncovered bulbs, for example, and deal with that, folks. Thank you. That's kind of one form of environmentalism. The other is getting government involved. And so, one thing that Humboldt Waterkeeper has been doing is trying to get new rules passed in local governments to address light pollution. And I understand that recently, we have a victory at the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors. So I want to walk through what's going on at the Board of Supervisors and how that might change things moving forward.

VAN ROYEN:

Yeah so last month in I think the August like 25th meeting of the Board of Supervisors they approved with some minor edits the Inland Outdoor Lighting Ordinance. So this lighting ordinance is intended to limit light pollution and light trespass and the fact that it got passed is a big win for anybody who cares about dark skies and limiting light pollution in our areas. The inland version that passed is applicable to unincorporated county land that is outside or inland of the coastal zone. There's going to be a separate coastal version that's going to go through the Coastal Commission so that'll take a little longer but it is in process.

WHEELER:

Is this regulatory package sufficient?

VAN ROYEN:

Yeah, we think it's an important step forward and it's going to really put Humboldt County on the map. It's not a lot of United States municipalities have ordinances that address light pollution in the way that this one does, limiting the brightness of light bulbs outdoors in residential and commercial properties, ensuring or requiring that there be fully shielded outdoor light fixtures. And we've heard some whispers among some of the other local municipalities that they've been looking to this ordinance to adopt their own dark sky friendly ordinance.

WHEELER:

So you mentioned that we are among the leaders. Can you talk about some of the other leaders in the United States? Where did you take inspiration from in trying to get Humboldt County to do better?

VAN ROYEN:

there is something called Dark Sky Places. So there's a non-profit called Dark Sky International and they are the leading organization fighting light pollution across the globe. And they have a couple of really cool programs, one of which is they certify these dark sky places that have to meet really stringent requirements for limiting light pollution. And the places that often receive these certifications are like national parks or there's a few in Arizona and an airport near Yellowstone recently got certified in this last year. And of course they had exemptions because airports have to have a lot of upwards facing lights for safety purposes. But any lights that they didn't have to have for those safety purposes, they implemented like the shielding and the lower brightness bulbs. Actually, I just read an article in the Atlantic a couple weeks ago that the stadium that the U.S. Tennis Open was hosted in this year is a dark sky approved stadium.

WHEELER:

All right, that's pretty neat. So critics of the Humboldt County Regulation or or where or maybe just folks who are kind of ignorant about light shielding and and light pollution generally usually raise concerns about security that we want to have lights around our structures so that we can ensure that folks who shouldn't be there are discouraged from being there or we can see folks doing the bad things. Supporters of dark sky regulations like yourself counter that that we can have security and have dark sky protections. Can you talk about how do we how do we kind of find this balance or or why why is it that this is kind of a a misunderstanding of how dark sky protections work?

VAN ROYEN:

Yeah, totally. The planning commissioners brought this up too when they had their pass at this ordinance. And so there are some like caveats in this ordinance for there's a demonstrable safety purpose that your light is serving. You might be able to get an exemption. But honestly, a lot of the security lighting that we use is kind of counterintuitive. It looks like a super bright light will keep your space very secure. But the reality of it is when you use a really bright light, it blows out security camera footage. It makes it harder to see things outside of the circle of light and can sometimes actually encourage people to come and commit a crime on your property because all of a sudden they can see in full view what's inside your car. And they might not have been able to if they had been walking by and your driveway was dark. So it is absolutely possible to still have outdoor lighting that gives that sense of security and gives real security, but is also kinder on our wildlife in the night sky. Like you could have a motion sensor on your outdoor light fixture and have it set to turn off after five minutes. And maybe that's your porch light so that when you're coming home late at night, your porch light turns on and you can actually find the keyhole in your doorknob.

WHEELER:

Right, so there are obvious solutions to this. You don't need to leave a bare bulb on all the time. The directionality of light also matters, right? So if you're protecting the night sky, if you have a cover over that light, you're still providing light down to the ground where you want the light to be. Having light escape into the ether isn't really useful, right? We want light where light is useful. We don't need light where it's not useful. So let's use some common sense here and direct the light where we want it to go, right?

VAN ROYEN:

Yeah, you actually just cited one of Dark Sky International's five principles of responsible outdoor lighting. So it's put light only where it's useful and needed, use it only when it's needed. So using things like motion sensors and timers and then some of the other things I mentioned, like having them shielded and low brightness and a warm color temperature.

WHEELER:

Why warm color temperature? What does this serve? What sort of purpose? Why does that matter?

VAN ROYEN:

Thank you so much for asking that. Daytime sunlight is bluer than I think the book ended. It's blue. Daytime light is blue as far as the spectrum of light colors. When our brains receive blue light through our eyeballs, our brain is like, oh, I should be awake right now. I don't need to sleep. Time to wake up. I'm sure people have heard this suggestion, don't look at your phone or a computer 30 minutes before bed because, and that's because our screens have blue light and you're just beaming this blue light into your brain, which suppresses the release of melatonin and makes it harder for you to fall asleep. And that can apply to animals as well. I'm not sure if they have the same brain mechanism that we do, but the blue light because it looks to them like daylight confuses them. They don't understand that humans have mastered technology and we can produce light whenever we want it. They're just like, oh, that looks like sunshine. I'm going to go towards that light because everything else is dark. So I should fly towards the sunrise or some such thing. So the color temperature is really important for wildlife and for our own circadian rhythm. Can you imagine coming home and your porch light is super blue and you're like tired and ready to go to bed? And then your porch light beams on and you're like, ah, now I'm awake and I can't sleep for an hour for some reason.

WHEELER:

Yeah, right. So I guess this kind of intuitively makes sense because I know that when I see these kind of like bright blue LED type lights, like it feels grating to my soul, you know, whereas like, when I think of like a nice light, I think of like a warmer, maybe yellower, I'm not sure if that's the correct end of the spectrum that I'm going towards, that that's kind of the lights that I think of. So I think that there's also probably a misconception with energy efficiency that these, these yellow lights are more associated with incandescent bulbs, and blue lights are bad in LEDs. I'm not sure if you have any thoughts on that.

VAN ROYEN:

Oh, absolutely. I recently went to a local hardware store and one of the workers info dumped on me. It was great. He kept apologizing. I was like, no, man, give me more. Like, this is exactly what I needed. I didn't know any of this. The internet wouldn't tell me.

WHEELER:

You are listening to the Econews Report. This is a recording that I made earlier this week with Sylvia Van Royen of Humboldt Waterkeeper about light pollution.

VAN ROYEN:

Apparently, California has passed laws to phase out like compact fluorescent light bulbs and other light bulbs that contain really harmful chemicals and are very difficult to dispose of. Like a lot of our light bulbs, I just pulled some out of my kitchen, still have mercury in them. We don't make thermometers with mercury in them anymore, but we make light bulbs for some reason. So in California, in the next few years, you will only be able to purchase LED lights and local hardware stores will only be able to sell LED lights. The magic of LEDs is you can make them whatever color and brightness you want. It's super popular these days, these strips of LED lighting that you see in like people's gaming rooms, which are super cool. And they like change colors, like purple, blue, green. An LED light bulb is the same. They can make it be any color and any brightness that we want. So you could go to a local hardware store right now and look at their bulbs. They're probably only going to be selling LEDs. And you can see that they will have whiter, colder light bulbs, warmer, yellower light bulbs. It spans the gamut. And now they're even making light bulbs that have a little switch on them so that you can switch them in between the colors. And I got a fun anecdote from one of the hardware store workers. They said that that was the manufacturer's response to consumers being confused and buying the like really harsh white bulbs and then being like, oh, I didn't want this and bringing it back and returning it for another one. So instead of just like making their packaging more clear, they just decided to keep calling it day white and soft white and then create these bulbs that have the little dimmer switch on them between the color temperatures.

WHEELER:

That's hilarious. I've never really understood why they sell the harsh bulbs. I don't think anybody really likes those. So in my house, something that my wife really loves are those I'm a millennial, so like hipster millennial, like old school looking bulbs. You can get some really cool, neat bulbs these days that are LED, energy efficient, beautiful light. So go to your local hardware store and get talked to by a nerd who loves to talk about light bulbs. You won't regret it, as Sylvia can attest.

VAN ROYEN:

Yeah, actually I have another comment on as far as local hardware stores. We are working with our wonderful locally owned hardware stores to put out more information about this and I'm actually in the process of making little signs for them to clip on to the shelves near the light bulbs that show like this light bulb is like dark sky friendly and this light bulb might not be and get that information out there. I'm also going to be giving them a bunch of fact sheets to hand out to folks on what type of light fixtures are good for limiting light pollution and how folks can retrofit their current light fixtures without dropping a whole bunch of money on it. Like I just found out there's this really cool thing called a PAR shield and I'm pretty sure that's a proprietary name but flood lamps that usually put in outdoor fixtures are called PAR light bulbs and a PAR shield is something that you can almost just clip on to the end of of the flood lamp light bulb and it's a full shield and it directs the light downward and it's so much cheaper than going and replacing the whole housing of that. You can just get this little PAR shield and slap it on there.

WHEELER:

Genius. So the new ordinance that was approved by the Board of Supervisors last month applies to new development, which I imagine might be a little bit of a disappointment to some folks because I hear so many stories about, well, that neighbor has a light that constantly shines into my house and is an irritant. But although it applies to new development, there's still remedies for folks who have those problem neighbors. Can you talk about how this new ordinance is enforced or what sort of recourses folks have available for those annoying lights down the block that just shine into your house all the time and make it unpleasant to be at home?

VAN ROYEN:

Yeah, so the county planners put in kind of like, I'm calling it a caveat to the only applies to new development part where if there is outdoor lighting that predates the passage of the ordinance and also aligned with all the zoning regulations that were about at the time that it was installed, it can remain unless someone makes a nuisance complaint about it. And they also advise have advised in many of the meetings like please don't call us for a one time thing. It has to be a persistent nuisance. But yeah, if you have a neighbor whose flood lamp turns on at 9pm and floods your entire bedroom with harsh bright blue light, and you can't sleep, and you've already talked to your neighbor and your neighbor isn't changing it. You could go make a nuisance complaint and the county would call them and tell them that that lighting is out of compliance. You also do have to be on unincorporated county land just to clarify jurisdiction.

WHEELER:

And as you said, the county is the first one to act, but maybe is not the last one to act. So talk about some of the efforts to continue getting other local jurisdictions to adopt lighting ordinances.

VAN ROYEN:

So we're showing up at public comment periods when these things come up on agendas when lighting ordinances or in any part of local municipalities code that has to do with lighting. We're trying to keep an eye on that is surprisingly, McKinleyville was one of the first places to have like an outdoor lighting ordinance that was like guided by dark sky international principles. And it did only apply to streetlights, but that's why all along Central Avenue, those lamps look kind of small and like they're flat, but it's because they're pointing the light downwards and they use LEDs that aren't super bright or super blue.

WHEELER:

So, coming up, gosh, I can't believe I'm already saying this, but we're coming into the holiday season soon. And a beloved tradition, of course, are Christmas lights. And I will even admit that despite my hatred of wasting energy, despite my hatred of light pollution, I, myself, love a good Christmas light. It cheers my soul in what is otherwise a dark period of the year. Folks might be concerned that Christmas lights could come under the gambit of new regulations. Should folks be worried?

VAN ROYEN:

Not about their Christmas lights. No, there is an exemption for temporary holiday decorations as long as they don't cause light trespass onto adjacent properties, the night sky, or wildlife habitat. So you can have your holiday decorations up as long as they're temporary and they're not causing light pollution.

WHEELER:

What about sports fields? I remember this being a significant source of light pollution where I grew up. There was a sports field complex on the hill over that stayed open until late at night and had kind of obnoxious lights because, you know, if you're playing soccer at 10 o'clock you need to have obnoxious lights. How does the county's ordinance deal with these issues?

VAN ROYEN:

So in the final draft of this ordinance we got some edits from the board of supervisors and now the ordinance reads that athletic fields have to get a conditional, I want to say conditional use permit, a special permit that in order to implement their lighting plan. So they're going to have to go through the county and go through a special approval process to put up that kind of lighting. And the great news is that Dark Sky International, surprise surprise, has an athletic field program where you can get your athletic field certified Dark Sky International approved and it's there's already commercial lighting fixtures out there. If the U.S. Open could be held in a stadium that does this then our local schools and sports associations can absolutely make this happen.

WHEELER:

Right because of course the whole point with with light pollution is it's fine to have light You just have to have it directed on the area that the light is desirable and not have it escape Into the night sky onto adjacent properties that don't want your your bright lights So proper shielding and directionality is always going to be key Streetlights and parking lots. I understand aren't part of this ordinance and are going to come in the future What are your thoughts moving forward on how we can have good lights for our streets and also have good night skies

VAN ROYEN:

So timers are a great option as far as lights in like parking lots that might not be necessary for like pedestrians to navigate the urban landscape at night. Motion sensors are also a really great option. And the great thing about timers especially in commercial lighting right now is that you can design them to not turn the light all the way off but to dim it. So we worked with the City of Eureka planning department on they were making a lighting plan for Halverson Park. And we stepped in and we're like hey this is great already but it would be even better if you did like these two or three things. And they weren't super into the idea of turning the lights completely off because Halverson Park and the adjacent parking lot has had some safety issues historically. So they're like well we don't really want the lights to turn all the way off. I was like oh well you can just put them on a dimmer switch. So at sunset those lights are supposed to dim down to a light brightness that is acceptable for like wildlife.

WHEELER:

So we've talked about new regulations are coming, they're going to apply to new development, there's still an ability to deal with those nuisance light pollution sources though. For folks who just want to do better for themselves, they're the homeowner who wants to have light available sometimes and wants to be respectful to the environment and to their neighbors, what are some good resources that you can direct folks to and just rules of thumb to keep in mind when thinking about light in the outdoors?

VAN ROYEN:

So the those three things that I keep mentioning because they're super easy and accessible, make sure your lights, your light bulbs outdoors are 1100 lumens or less, make sure that they are warm so 2700 kelvins or less, and then make sure they're shielded and pointed downwards. And then dark sky international is an incredible resource they pour so much time and energy into creating these programs and creating outreach materials, they have a whole database of commercially available dark sky approved like dark sky certified lighting fixtures. It's like a searchable database you can go in and look at residential fixtures commercial fixtures. They have information about color temperature on there it's an excellent resource I highly recommend to folks. And then, as we will be working with local hardware stores over the next month or so, your local hardware store workers are going to be more and more knowledgeable about this and able to help folks make decisions that benefit the night sky.

WHEELER:

All right. Well, fantastic. I will also point out that on my other radio show, The Eco News Report, we had the executive director of Dark Sky International on and quizzed him about Dark Sky regulation. Sylvia was on that show too, I believe. And you can find that on the Lascaux Outpost. Search for Dark Sky International and that episode should pop right up. Sylvia, any last thoughts about this issue before we leave?

VAN ROYEN:

If folks aren't satisfied with the Dark Sky International website, Humboldt Waterkeeper is also going to be posting some materials in the coming weeks that we will be handing out also at the local hardware stores. I wrote an EcoNews article on light pollution that is also on our website. We've got a light pollution fact sheet. So we have also a treasure trove of information on our website. People are always welcome to reference.

WHEELER:

And that is HumboldtWaterKeeper.org, although I think everybody just uses Google these days, who actually manually types in a URL anymore. So Google Humboldt Waterkeeper, and let me say Humboldt Water Keeper -- fantastic partner and friend to EPIC. I really appreciate working with Sylvia and with Jen, two of my favorite colleagues in the environmental movement. So Sylvia, thank you for everything that you do, and thank you for joining the show tonight.

VAN ROYEN:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

WHEELER:

Well, this has been another epic edition. I really appreciate all my guests coming on tonight. I really enjoyed hearing about Robert, man who walks in the woods, Sutherland. I hope that you did too. I will see you next month. EPIC hosts the second show each month. So until then, thank you for joining us for another Econews Report. Join us again next week on this time and channel for more environmental news from the north coast of California. Be well and I'll see you then. Bye friends.