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Nonfiction Views: The Darkness Manifesto, by Johan Eklöf, plus the week's new nonfiction [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-06-06  

For five years, from 2016-2021, we lived in an International Dark Sky Community, Sedona, Arizona, so I was drawn to the recently published book The Darkness Manifesto: On Light Pollution, Night Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms that Sustain Life, by Johan Eklöf. Dark Sky Communities earn that designation by actively utilizing low-impact lighting fixtures in municipal buildings and infrastructure, requiring businesses to do the same, and encouraging citizen participation. At 4350 feet elevation, the night skies were spectacular, at least when there weren’t forest fires in the area.

Having lived in big cities for most of my life, seeing so many stars and the bright swath of the Milky Way was a revelation. It was easy to spot the International Space Station when it passed overhead. Fewer and fewer people are able to truly see the night sky, as light pollution has increased. Eklöf recounts the true (though probably exaggerated) story of the 1994 blackout in Los Angeles. The Griffin Observatory and local emergency services fielded a number of phone calls from worried citizens reporting a strange pale white smear across the sky. They had simply never seen the Milky Way before.

There are increasing parts of the world where it is never dark enough to truly trigger the eye’s night vision mechanism while walking outside. In Singapore, the brightest city on the planet, he writes “if you were raised in Singapore, you’ve likely never experienced night vision.”

The book tackles much more than simply the aesthetic pleasure of the night sky. The author is a bat expert, which led to his fascination with darkness. Bats get a lot of press, but in fact nearly two-thirds of invertebrate creatures and approximately one-third of vertebrates are nocturnal. The nighttime is a teeming world. He recounts sitting in the darkness watching the interactions of moths and bats. Moths working at night are as important pollinators as the bees during the day. They have an incredible sense of smell and can detect a scent molecule from miles away. They also have a very keen sense of hearing, which enables them to detect the sound of a bat swooping in to eat them. and the two creatures engage in an endless veering battle of tracking and avoidance.

Much of the natural world relies on the very night sky that humankind strives to vanquish. Take, for example, the dung beetle:

The dung beetle is one of the best at using the moon’s barely discernable patterns in the sky….To find the closest and fastest way [to roll its dung ball home], dung beetles navigate with help from the moon’s polarized light in the night sky, and even the weakest light from the sliver of a new moon can lead them in the right direction. They have such great sensitivity for nuanced differences in this light that even in environments close to big cities where weak traces of light spill out from streets and homes, the beetles can find their way. But in that case the moon must be full, for otherwise the trails in the sky are hidden, even for dung beetles. For safety’s sake, they also make use of the stars to orient themselves in open landscapes. By climbing up on their ball, turning towards space, and performing a little dance, they create for themselves a snapshot of the night sky.

May you dream tonight of dung beetles perched atop their dung balls, gazing at the stars and dancing.

Manmade light can disrupt the natural world in many ways. Moths travel by the light of the moon, but are distracted by bright lights. Illuminated parking lots can appear to be bodies of water to insects like the mayfly, leading them to deposit their eggs on barren asphalt rather than in the water they need. Mating pheromones are activated and released as darkness falls, but if darkness never fully falls, the mating might never happen. An estimated 40% of insect species are threatened with extinction, and the disruption of darkness is one of the causes.

A standard streetlight attracts insects from about twenty yards, but sometimes it’s up to fifty yards. Given that streetlights are usually closer together than that, it’s extremely difficult for insects to cross a road without being ensnared by a light source. This means that every road, even the smallest sidewalk, acts as a kind of barrier.

Birds navigate by starlight in their long migrations, and the increasing light pollution can confuse them. The most astounding example of this is when the September 11th Tribute in Light remembrance---powerful spotlights shining straight into the sky from the site of the World Trade Center, visible from ten miles away. From 2010 to 2017, scientists studied the effects on birds from this one night a year display. Enormous flocks of migrating birds veer from their paths during the display, flying in circles, cawing and singing until the lights are turned off. Only then do they continue on their southern journey.

Recall the dance of bats and moths mentioned above? Let’s look at the giant squid and sperm whales. Giant squids have the largest eyes on the planet, up to eleven inches. Light doesn’t travel well underwater, but these huge eyes allow the squid to see one thing up to 400 feet away: the cloud of glowing bioluminescent algae and microorganisms triggered by a sperm whale diving in search of a squid to eat (they can dive over a mile on a single breath). The sperm whale is emitting a mighty 230 decibel sound wave to echo-locate the squid, while the squid rushes to avoid that glowing cloud hurtling towards it.

It’s an enjoyable book, filled with nature, biology, astrophysics, history and philosophy. I recommend you spend an afternoon reading it, and then venture outside and sit quietly, observing the nighttime world to whatever extent your illumination environment will allow.

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I also post a comment each week to one of the Black Kos diaries featuring the week’s new fiction and nonfiction releases of special interest to Black and Latino/a readers, adult, teens and children. Click here to read today’s comment. My Pride Month display is also up at The Literate Lizard website, with a selection of over 50 titles discounted 20% for books over $20, and 15% for books $20 and under. You can see the adult selection HERE, and the selections for teens and kids HERE.

THIS WEEK’S NEW NOTABLE NONFICTION

All book links in this diary are to my online bookstore The Literate Lizard. If you already have a favorite indie bookstore, please keep supporting them. If you’re able to throw a little business my way, that would be appreciated. Use the coupon code DAILYKOS for 15% off your order, in gratitude for your support (an ever-changing smattering of new releases are already discounted 15% each week). We also partner Libro.fm for audiobooks. Libro.fm is similar to Amazon’s Audible, with a la carte audiobooks, or a $14.99 monthly membership which includes the audiobook of your choice and 20% off subsequent purchases during the month.

READERS & BOOK LOVERS SERIES SCHEDULE

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/6/2173121/-Nonfiction-Views-The-Darkness-Manifesto-by-Johan-Ekl-f-plus-the-week-s-new-nonfiction

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