tasmania\'s \"pristine darkness\" needs protection from light pollution

A serious astronaut warned that one of the most beautiful and fascinating scenery in the state of Tasmania is being destroyed by light pollution.
If we are not careful, we may lose the night sky.
Twenty-year-old Tasmania David Lennon has been watching stars with a camera since his teens.
He said that light pollution makes the night sky bright, causing bright light and urban sky --
Shine and stop humans from seeing the stars.
\"I began to notice it more strongly,\" he said . \".
\"Even in the past few years, I have observed the decline of the natural night sky to a greater extent.
This makes me wonder, do we really need as many lights as we can?
Dark International
The Sky society began to protect the world from light pollution in 1988, and light pollution is defined as excessive use of artificial lighting, resulting in the disappearance of our starsnight skies.
At present, more than 2016 of the international population lives under light pollution, and pollution in nearly 80 countries has increased rapidly or dramatically between 2012 and.
The reality is children living in mega cities or buildings.
The city or residential area grew up without seeing the stars.
The founder of the International Dark Sky Association, lighting expert Landon Bannister tells the story of a friend\'s child who lives in Los Angeles, and for the first time when he saw the stars in Australia, he was scared to cry.
\"It\'s really sad.
This is one of the reasons why we started the dark sky chapter in tazhou.
Maybe in another thirty to forty years our children will grow up in the same way.
\"For people living in Melbourne and Sydney, this is almost what is happening now,\" he said . \".
\"We are also aware that light pollution from Launceston and Hobart has begun to spread to our world heritage area, and we need to protect that.
Mr. Bannister said that the state of Tasmania was still able to protect itself from light pollution and use its \"original darkness \".
He said that the purpose of the dark sky Tasmania state is to raise awareness of light pollution, advocate dark sky tourism and other dark city marketing opportunities in the lobby of a Dark Sky Park in the state.
In the astrological circle, Tasmania state is considered a hot spot for its dark sky, but Bannister said the state has not yet taken advantage of the opportunity.
\"We can sell our dark sky for the tourism industry.
\"Many people around the world are unable to reach the stars, so they want to see the stars when they go on vacation,\" he said . \".
\"We would love to see a Dark Sky Park in tazhou.
Having an amazing dark sky is a good start to developing such a park, Mr. Bannister said, but policymakers need to get involved.
\"You obviously need a good dark sky, but the real reason is that there is an area that is not polluted by light.
\"You need to limit the amount of light used and start implementing a good lighting policy,\" he said . \".
\"We \'ve been called Green states and I think we can really lead Australia to be a place known for being responsible for the night --
We don\'t have too much time lighting.
Illuminate our city and don\'t end like big cities in Australia.
\"The International Dark Sky Association defines Dark Sky Park as a land with special starry sky and a night environment protected by its scientific, natural, educational, cultural heritage and public enjoyment.
There are parks like this all over the world, there are more than ten dark parks in the United States, and there are also in Chile --
With its dark sky and \"astronomy-tourism\".
Australia has only one Dark Sky Park in Warrumbungle in New South Wales, a 24-hectare land that was awarded dark sky status in 2016.
From here, you can see billions of stars extending into the night sky, and the Milky Way is bright and visible.
These stars hold an important position in the belief system of gamilaroni people, who are the original owners of Warrumbungle, and believe that emus in the sky float between the stars of the Milky Way, flying over the sky and guarding the land.
For Aboriginal people in Australia, stars and moons are an important part of life, where they navigate their life on land with stars and often talk about them in dreams.
They are not alone, and ancient populations around the world use stars for religious, agricultural purposes, such as understanding when the season begins, high tide indicators, and land and sea navigation.
Mr Bannister questioned what would happen to humans if the night sky completely disappeared.
\"It\'s an incredible thing to be able to look up at the stars in surprise, and it\'s a shame that we might lose it,\" he said . \".
\"We really don\'t know what the impact of this loss will be.
Theresa Jones, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Melbourne, studied the effects of artificial night lighting on human and animal biological processes.
She said the increase in artificial lighting has had an impact on the physiology of humans, animals, insects and plants.
An important influence is related to the chemical melatonin that regulates circadian rhythm and sleep
The Awakening cycle of humans and animals at night and during the day.
Dr. Jones said in the evening
Over time, the production of melatonin in the body stops, signaling that the body stops working and falls asleep, instead, the body wakes up when it is resting during the day.
\"The animals are changing their behavior due to the extra lights at night,\" Dr. Jones said . \".
\"During the day activities, the animals sleeping at night suddenly extend the time of the day, because there is no longer darkness, night animals who want to be active in the dark may try to leave their normal habitat, to escape the light. \"She said.
\"The change in the light at night also means that we are covering up the season, which may lead to breeding changes in offspring born at the wrong time of the year, and then may cause food supply problems, because food is not produced at the right time.
\"For Mr Bannister, a lot of research into the effects of light pollution on animal species is a big motivation for change.
\"Where birds need star navigation, it starts to throw away bird migration and the number of red turtles drops sharply as they use moonlight to look for the place to spawn, but see the bright lights of the city, taking the wrong path, a German study found that insect biomass was 30 per cent less than it was a decade ago, which is related to light pollution, which affects pollination and fauna, he said.
More attention is given to studies of the effects on human health in which sleep disorders, depression and mood disorders are associated with disruption of light and circadian rhythms.
\"Artificial lighting is now also linked to diseases such as obesity, diabetes and even breast cancer,\" Bannister said . \"
\"In Denmark, night shift workers sued the government for light problems, and 82 workers had breast cancer, which is related to working in a company --
The environment is brightly lit at night.
Mr Bannister explained that the darkness
The sky movement does not object to the use of artificial light, on the contrary, it urges society to use light in an appropriate and effective manner.
There are very few governments and policy makers who can adapt to the problem of light pollution, so very \"ordinary\" urban lighting decisions are being made, he said.
\"On a global scale, we estimate that the above outdoor lighting is actually a waste, and that is quite considerable when we use the total energy consumption for outdoor lighting,\" he said . \".
\"As an example of a bad urban lighting, my lights have recently been upgraded.
They are shooting half the light on their side so that the light does not shine on the street where people need them, but shines in someone\'s front yard.
\"The excessive use of LED lighting exacerbated this problem.
Mr. Barrister said that the energy efficiency of the LED has not been achieved due to the installation of more lights now.
He says the blue is higher.
The light in the LED has the effect of whitening
Light, penetrates the atmosphere at a greater level than conventional light sources and results in \"Sky-glow\".
Melatonin is also particularly sensitive to this blue LED light and therefore has a greater impact on circadian rhythms.
\"It\'s just to implement common sense solutions, put light where it needs light, control light, and eliminate glare,\" Mr Barrister said . \".
\"Does our city need to be 9. 1 bright at three in the morning?
Should they be on motion sensors if we have paths?
Does the light need to be on all the time when there is no light
One in the park?
Mr. Bannister said that humans evolved from sitting around the campfire and walking in the moonlight, where their bodies were designed to be warm, low-level light, our
Expansion is to protect yourself from strong light.
The lights will affect our mood.
\"If our outdoor environment is bright and bad, then we don\'t want to stay there because it\'s not natural for us,\" he said . \".
He used the hospitable lights and the lights used on the Dark Mofo festival, where director Leigh Carmichael is a member of the dark sky movement, which he recently said as part of next year\'s event, he wants to see the lights dim in all cities.
\"The hotel industry trades in lighting and spends a lot of time and effort on low cost
\"Because they want you to stay longer and spend more money,\" Mr Bannister said . \".
\"We need to do this for our city.
We don\'t need to make our city brighter at night by adding lighting and creating a day
Time environment.
Instead, we need to see them as a completely independent environment to create a double economy and realize that the night --
Time lighting is required.
\"He said it was a good idea to use fire and red lights throughout the Dark Mofo.
\"Red, as a visual light source, looks much easier and less noticeable, and it reduces light by about 80, so the whole city goes dark,\" he said . \".
\"It was great to see more people out at that time of the year, and for me, I\'m sure the feeling of the city-a little dim, not so blue, more people-have played a big role in this area.
\"For those like Mr. Lennon who constantly seek creative inspiration from the stars, the excessive use of artificial lighting poses a threat to the wild nature of tazhou, the uniqueness of the wild and the human psychology.
\"When you look up and can\'t see the city sky above you, I personally feel very closed in the big city. [So]
\"I hope to continue to take pictures of the night sky and help motivate others to stare at the stars and take it all in,\" he said . \".