Stuck in Chicagoland due to bad weather so of course I am on mastodon and posting about #ALAN2023. It was amazing to see a few friends and so many esteemed researchers there. I was fan girling pretty hard. @remiboucher @JohnBarentine @

@remiboucher @nlskies @SaraBPritchard Here is a pic of some low CCT sources and a 2200K "warm white" source from my #ALAN2023 demo (all LED). From left to right: 2200K, 2000K, 1900K with less than 2% blue per P500, 1800K, and DE amber (does not have a CCT). Note they looked less saturated in person - there was a lot of daylight in the room but electric lighting was turned off.

As #ALAN2023 comes to a close, announcements are made for LPTMM 2024, the next European Symposium, and #ALAN2025 (28-30 October 2025 in Westport, Ireland)

@SaraBPritchard thanks for the clarification. I appreciate it. I agree with your premise, which is why we conducted the market characterization to understand commercial “amber” LEDs and propose follow up questions and a pragmatic solution for regulators. Safe travels home. #ALAN2023

Guenat: However, we *did* find evidence for shifting-baseline syndrome in terms of perceptions of the actual impacts of ALAN. We interpret this as indicating a need for improved messaging to better convey the significance of its harms. #ALAN2023

Guenat: As Swiss people were exposed to more ALAN (as determined from satellite remote sensing data), they tended to think that ALAN in their environment was excessive. Suggests that they are not subject to 'shifting baseline syndrome'. #ALAN2023

Solène Guenat (Swiss Federal Research Institute) presents results of surveys of people in Switzerland on attitudes toward ALAN. High support for technological innovations, information campaigns; low support for financial disincentives, turning off street lights. #ALAN2023

In Q&A, Keren Levy suggests the possibility of putting caged insects in different parts of a city to examine the impact of artificial light (or other pollutants) in a more natural environment than is possible in the laboratory. That sounds really cool to me!
#ALAN2023

Claire Hermans (Netherlands Institute of Ecology) used a combination of acoustic tracking of bats and LiDAR scans of the environment to reconstruct the foraging behavior of bats exposed to different experimental light treatments in the field. #ALAN2023

My favorite pun at #ALAN2023 so far, by Matthew Hatfield from the University of Southampton.

"Very fishy" was also good.

Matthew Hatfield (@unisouthampton) presents some of his dissertation research on brown trout and European eels. Notes little research on ALAN in aquatic environments; of 118 posters and talks at #ALAN2023, only eight are about aquatic environments and two are about fish.

The fraction of #ALAN2023 talks given by graduate students seems to be higher than in past editions of the conference — an indication of the ongoing increase of interest in the topic of light pollution and its steady professionalization in academia.

Evelien Castrop (Leiden University) looked at the effects of different colored light on two plant species (H. radicata and R. acetosa) in a controlled experiment, finding differences in leaf length and transpiration with implications for plant community resilience. #ALAN2023

Sam offers some ideas for ways by which dark-sky advocates can begin the work of decolonizing this space and creating meaningful and sustained engagement with Native American tribes. #ALAN2023

Doug Sam notes that, according to the Kaibab Band of Paiutes (the world's first 'dark sky nation'), after their DarkSky accreditation mountain sheep were seen to return to their lands for the first time in many years. This was seen by them as an auspicious event. #ALAN2023

Sam: When Mesa Verde National Park sought dark-sky accreditation, it successfully obtained support for its effort from all 26 of its related Native American tribes, a first in program history. But tribal engagement has been rare within the dark-sky movement. #ALAN2023

Doug Sam (University of Oregon) critiques DarkSky's International Dark Sky Places Program with respect to relations with Native American tribes. "When we designate future IDSPs, we must involve native peoples [in their establishment] as a matter of justice." #ALAN2023

Papantoniou's group found a strong association of night-shift work with COVID infection in 2021 and long COVID symptoms by 2023 (60% increased risk) and that better-quality sleep is protective against both COVID infection and long COVID. #ALAN2023

Kyriaki Papantoniou (Medical University of Vienna) gives a nice overview of what we know about the impact of ALAN on human health in the context of shift work. She identifies "over 100 diseases any symptoms" in associated with ALAN exposure. #ALAN2023

Using aerial imagery of Pittsburgh at night, Diane Turnshek and her students found that parts of the city where the demographics skew toward younger people are brighter. The brightest part of the city is the "Eds and Meds" corridor where the university campuses are. #ALAN2023