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Jim Richardson, a photographer with National Geographic, spoke at the Chautauqua Institute this week on the theme “After Dark: The Night World.” Photo by Georgia Pressley/The Chautauquan Daily
CHAUTAUQUA — A National Geographic photographer wants people to make the night a special place in their minds.
Jim Richardson thinks a lot about the night sky and how to reclaim it. He also wants to end light pollution, and he shared his thoughts on the topic with an amphitheater audience at the Chauqua Institute on Monday. “After Dark: The Night World”.
Richardson said that the number of places to watch the night is decreasing in the world. It’s hard to see the night sky in any major city in the United States.
He noted that technology has helped his ability to tell his story about light pollution.
“Digital cameras have brought us to the point where we can do this.” he said. We can actually make history about light pollution – night sky laws. We can see the Milky Way. We can create images that create a visual story. It was almost impossible to do in the film age. “
He showed a map of the Earth at night and said it actually showed the night sky shining from the Earth. He said it is also a population map and a gross domestic product (GDP) map.
“It is also a map of paved roads.” he said. Where you have more paved roads, you have more light pollution.
One of the parts of the world that does not have so much light is Africa. He said that the inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa still use fire as a source of light.
When a person appears in nature as a tree, body of water or a mountain, he says that all the elements in those trees, bodies of water and mountains come from the stars.
“It’s all in the hearts of the shops.” Richardson said. “So we are not just observers. All the atoms in our bodies were formed in the hearts of stars. It is the only place where you can make complex atoms. So we are not just spectators. We are participants in this great journey and with that in mind, I think it is important to take what we know about how we think about the night and examine it with our knowledge.
The photographer said that 80% of children born in this generation will probably never see the Milky Way again. A timeline shows how light pollution has accumulated around major cities since the 1950s. In the year He estimated that by 2050, a large part of the Earth will be exposed to light pollution. For example, he said the lights at the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas can be seen 250 miles away.
The photographer also pointed out that light pollution is disrupting the migration of birds. Lighting on oil platforms and wind turbines is also a problem.
“Those (lights on oil rigs) are of great importance not because they pollute the sky for people, but because they mislead birds on their migration. That’s the biggest problem with those things in remote areas. The same can happen to wind farms; he said.
Light pollution also causes problems for people, Richardson says. Light pollution disrupts circadian rhythms, suppresses melatonin, increases the risk of breast cancer, and glare makes driving unsafe.
Richardson says there is a great cure for light pollution – turn off the lights. There must be a way for people to live without electricity.
At a meeting on street lighting in his hometown, he told the audience members to raise their voices and decide how people can live in a world with limits and make wise decisions to be happy in doing so.
Humans must make peace with the universe.
“It’s not just a technological solution. It is also a moral solution. If we ask to find everything we want, when it comes to the dark sky, there may be nothing and we should start to think that it is a terrible thing to lose quickly not only for us, but for everyone. generations to come.” he said.
Since starting at National Geographic in 1984, Richardson has written more than 50 stories for National Geographic and National Geographic Travel magazines. His work on environmental issues has included topics in National Geographic, from feeding the planet to protecting our night sky from light pollution. Cover story on “End of Night: Why We Need Darkness.” According to meeting.chq.org. Since starting at the Topeka Capital-Journal, Richardson’s work has taken him around the world, from the tops of volcanic mountains to beneath the surface of the soil that provides our food, from the Arctic to the Antarctic and many places in between.
He has worked for the Denver Post and has been published in Time, Life, Sports Illustrated and The New York Times. His 40-year photographic career in Cuba, Kansas City, population 230, was published by National Geographic. “CBS News Sunday Morning. In his 1979 study of adolescence, “High School America”. It is now considered an ancient photo essay. His “Reflections from a wide space on the road”. An audiovisual presentation, Crystal won an AMI Award. It has received three Special Recognition Awards and several Photo of the Year honors at the World Understanding Competition. Richardson In 2007, he was named the Kansan Boy and Girl of the Year. “The photographer’s photographer. Jim Richardson’s Chautauqua presentation and tour is organized in partnership with the International League of Conservation Photographers.
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