Light pollution negatively alters the nocturnal environment for all species on Earth.
Caused by the excessive use of artificial light at night,
light pollution corrupts our natural darkness and disrupts
the 24-hour cycle that all life on Earth depends on.
Eighty percent of the world’s population lives under this dome of light pollution
which results in significant impacts to
the ecology, health and well-being of all life.
The District of Columbia's exuberant amount of artificial light has ever-worsening environmental and
economic consequences for us all.
Light pollution causes migrating birds to collide with buildings. As many as one billion birds are killed in collisions with buildings each year.
Source
Learn More
Lights Out DC is asking residents and businesses within the District of Columbia to turn off (or minimize) as many lights as possible from Now to November 15th between the hours of 10pm - 6am.
Specific actions include the following:
-
Turn off non-essential outdoor lights completely
-
Dim those lights that are left
-
Use warmer colored light
-
Point lights downwards
-
Put outdoor lighting on timers and/or motion sensors
-
Use outdoor decorative lighting prudently
-
Turn off interior lights when leaving a room
-
Draw blinds/shades when using indoor lighting after dark
Lights Out DC is asking Commercial Building owners and Property Managers to turn off (or minimize) unnecessary lights from Now to November 15th between the hours of 10pm - 6am.
Specific actions include the following:
-
Turn off exterior decorative lighting
-
Turn off unnecessary roof lighting
-
Limit exterior lighting to ground level for wayfinding
-
All outdoor lights should point downwards
-
Extinguish spot and floodlights
-
Substitute strobe lighting wherever possible
-
Reduce lobby and atrium lighting
-
Turn off unnecessary interior lighting, especially on upper floors
-
Substitute task and area lighting for workers staying late
-
Draw blinds/ shades when using indoor lighting after dark
Commit to helping:
Lights Out DC is a campaign asking Washingtonians to reduce light pollution.
In addition, there is a program called Lights Out DC, run by City Wildlife, and involves monitoring for bird-building collisions and working with buildings to remediate the problem.
For more information:
Lights Out DC is a program created and supported by DarkSky DC, City Wildlife and DC Bird Alliance to help reduce the District’s light pollution.