Excess lighting isn't good for people or wildlife.

‍It stresses us and wildlife, burns energy, and contributes to the decline of insect populations and to bird deaths at windows.

Solutions are EASY. Use light IF, WHEN,and WHERE you need it. Keep it orange-red and minimized. Brighter isn’t safer.

• Turn off at 11pm, or earlier when not needed. Avoid decorative or accent lighting. Use dimmers when possible.
• Use motion sensors or timers.
• Shade or aim outdoor lights to where you want it.
• Use lights on the amber-orange-red range,and not white-blue. Redder the better for fireflies in their summer mating season (or turn off outside lights).
• Pull your blinds, drapes and shutters to avoid attracting wildlife to windows.
• Use phones or flashlights (preferably with red light), rather than static lights.

Safety

Over-illumination can make way-finding and nighttime tasks less safe. Your eyes take too long to adjust when there’s too much contrast between brightly lit and darker areas. See photo.

Human Health

‍Research suggests that artificial light at night can negatively affect human health, increasing risks for obesity, depression, sleep disorders, diabetes, breast cancer and more.

Birds and Nature

More than a thousand birds fatally hit the windows at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago on one night October 2023. A study of McCormick place estimated halving lighted window area would reduce collisions by 11× in spring and 6× in fall. Bird mortality could be reduced by ∼60% by decreasing lights to minimum levels. Bright lights at night attract and confuse birds, especially when they are flying in stormy or foggy weather.  They draw them lower, toward windows.

Many animal rely on natural cycles of daylight and darkness to trigger and regulate behaviors such as hunting, hiding from predators, mating, nesting, navigating, and communicating. Bright lights confuse migratory birds, drawing them toward fatal window hazards and causing them to expend precious energy needed for migration. Resident birds also are affected: it can increase their breeding failure. Insects throng to outdoor lighting, where they are easy pickings for predators that kill and eat them at such unnaturally high levels it is impacting their overall populations.

Save Energy and Carbon too.

Plant Health

‍Plants too depend on natural cycles of daylight and darkness to regulate processes such as flowering, leaf drop, and growth form.‍

See the new City of Evanston Ordinance about Lighting in our resources below.

Reducing outdoor lighting is one of the six items in the Pollinator Pledge.

Improve habitat for birds and pollinators when you Take the Pollinator Pledge.

TAKE ACTION: Share our doorhanger to spread the word about outdoor lighting. ‍

Email Habitat@NaturalHabitatEvanston.Org for materials to share.

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