[naturerecordists] wrote:
> Great idea, Jos=C3=A9!
>
> In fact, sound IS light.
>
> Usually, where we find light (as in, man-made light) we also find
> people highways and machines etc. so that would be a good place to
> start.
>
> When we examine it at the quantum physics level, we see how sound is
> nothing more than an energy force oscillating in waves at various
> frequencies, just like light does.
Just at MUCH lower frequencies (and lower quantum energies ... <G>).
Google "earth from space at night nasa" to see the real extent of light
pollution. Look at http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=3D55167 and vi=
ew the
image labeled earth_lights_lrg.jpg
One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is how much we talk about g=
reen
energy, energy conservation etc. etc. etc. etc. ad nauseam - and how utterl=
y
prodigal we are with energy, especially with lighting. Fear of the dark? =
in
"civilized" countries it takes on grotesque proportions. Unfortunately, in=
some
"civilized" countries the fear of "thieves in the dark" is very real, and v=
ery
well founded. In a rather varied life, I have never encountered a risk of
thievery greater than at present in rural California. In some of the world=
's
more "dangerous" countries I never worried, because my local friends would =
have
noticed, and dealt with the problem in their own way. The only theft I
experienced in Nigeria was from an auto parked in the parking lot of police
headquarters in Lagos (a 10x50 Zeiss binocular, no mean catch <G>.). On my=
own
"home turf" there (the University of Ibadan) nobody would have dared. Nor =
in
Beirut, nor in Arabia. But in all those places I was part of the local cul=
ture
... with many local friends, who would have dealt summarily with anyone stu=
pid
enough to try ...
In a life long ago I used to train hawks - Goshawks freshly captured from t=
he
wild. There is nothing wilder than a wild Goshawk - and in four days, if y=
ou go
about it correctly, that same bird is tame as a parrot. It begins in the d=
ark -
you have to sneak into the bird's life, without ever frightening it severel=
y,
and darkness is your friend. At the time I lived in very rural Bavaria, mi=
les
even from the nearest village. It was still, already (and I am talking 195=
0s
and early 1960s) hard to get away from too much light. Today I live in ver=
y
rural California, just outside a village of 1026 people (per 2010 census). =
I
would have to walk for miles to get away from "too much" light. We are
surrounded with solar farms ... each of which blazes megawatts into the nig=
ht
sky, all night every night. Nobody knows really what that is doing to
night-migrating birds (plenty, I think ... I am an old Max Planckler famili=
ar at
first hand with the studies of Sauer and Hofmann etc. on the behavior of
night-migrating birds). Populations of those birds are declining radically
almost all over the world. Many factors are responsible, for sure, but lig=
ht
pollution has to be a very major one.
Where I did escape from light pollution was in very rural Nigeria (nothing
brighter than a kerosene lantern) and also in the desert of Saudi Arabia wh=
ere I
spent much time among the Bedouin. Wish I had had sound recording equipmen=
t in
some of those places!
Long years ago, while I was at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, David P=
ye
came to visit, chasing bats with sound equipment ... long long ago, I left =
there
during the civil war in 1967. My closest brush with high-end sound recordi=
ng in
those days <G>.
Wish I had recording equipment for the many sounds of a coral reef under wa=
ter
(many of them can be interpreted, fishes do a lot of talking among themselv=
es,
and so do some of the invertebrates). And wish I had been able to record t=
he
predictable, slowly unfolding ominous sequence that announces the launch of=
a
"swarm raid" by driver ants /Anomma nigricans/. The loudest element in tha=
t
dramatic sequence (it would make a great movie opener, or lecture launcher)=
is
the social calls of lesser galagos (/Galagoides demidovii/) who gather to f=
east
on insects flushed by the ant swarm. Then tree snakes (/Boiga blandingii/ =
and
others) gather to try to catch the galagos ... lots of breath-holding drama=
in
the rain forest at night!
John
---
John E. Burchard, Ph.D.
Tepe Gawra Salukis
http://saluqi.home.netcom.com/
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