Not even scared!

For the past eleven years, I have lived in a condominium lit all night by a tight procession of “ball” street lamps. Champions of light pollution, which light up the sky as much as the roadway. Since the investment required to replace them is never a priority, we had to wait for the announcement of their ban on January 1, 2025 for the union council to finally schedule their eviction… But I will not see the advent of this new era. Having moved this summer to a housing estate, what a surprise it was to learn that the street lights go out at 10 p.m. After that, they can be turned back on via the mobile application “I light my street”. “We saved a lot of money thanks to that,” a neighbor whispered to me. I didn’t dare tell him that the real value of this initiative lay for me in its ability to protect living things… 64% of invertebrates and 28% of vertebrates are in fact exclusively or partially nocturnal. Artificial light has deleterious effects on their ability to move, feed, and reproduce. Human biological rhythms are also affected. This is the whole point of the event Le Jour de la nuit, the 16th edition of which will take place on Saturday, October 12, 2024, to raise awareness of this reality. We have enough good reasons to be afraid these days. No need to add to it by being afraid of the dark. It protects us much more than we think.