They say, “You can’t fight city hall.” Well, young David Calhoun is. In the small town of Vernonia Oregon, David is on a quest to reduce light pollution in and around the town. His focus so far has been on the main street, where they have switched to 5000K LED’s. Even from his home in the woods 3 miles out of town he can see the sky glow growing. Once David becomes a state senator, which Michael Colligan is sure will happen one day, he can take the fight state-wide and save ALL of Oregon from Light Pollution!

Michael Calhoun is an environmental activist from Vernonia Oregon. He currently is Board Chair of the Columbia Soil & Water Conservation District.

Sasha is back and she’s fightin’ mad! She’s still battling the refractive eye surgery industry, and because of the damage her eyes experienced from that, LED street lights are a problem for her. So now she is battling her local council to fix the terrible LED street lighting in her borough–not just for her, but for everyone who is negatively affected.

Sasha’s eyes were ruined by laser surgery in 2011, and she launched My Beautiful Eyes Foundation in January 2012.

Since then, as a patient advocate, she has advised and represented thousands of people, the majority like her, irreparably damaged by refractive eye surgery, laser and lens.

Sasha has worked closely with John McDonnell MP, actively campaigning for government regulation of the UK refractive surgery industry, doing her utmost to publicise the serious risks of these unnecessary and frequently debilitating operations, and to expose the corruption within the industry - at every level.

Connect with Sasha:
http://linkedin.com/in/sasha-rodoy-35b12596 facebook.com/SashaRodoyMBEF
twitter.com/MBEFCampaign
http://www.mybeautifuleyes.co.uk/

Connect with The Soft Lights Foundation: www.softlights.org

Highlights from this episode:
 - Lucky 13 State Parks in CO
 - Maritime Issues
 - Street Lighting Across Europe
 - A Bigger Trump Sign

Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle

Sponsored by The National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors visit https://naild.org/

Headlines and Sources can be found at www.RestoringDarkness.com

Philip was recently on Get a Grip on Lighting, Episode 381, (getagriponlighting.com/episode-381-induction-dont-call-it-a-comeback-philip-gotthelf), making him one of our few cross-over guests. His company, Tesla Induction Lighting makes Dark Sky compliant induction light fixtures and lamps. That means, no flicker, little glare, recoverable mercury, and long-lasting bulbs. If you want the turtles to head out to the sea instead of up to the road, Philip claims his bulbs are the only proven white light fixtures that will not distract them. Michael asks, “Does the lighting industry have any idea what it's doing?” Philip answers him directly… Philip Gotthelf is a world renowned authority on energy markets and technologies. His expertise dates back to the original formation of energy futures markets in the 1970s where he worked directly with the New York Mercantile Exchange to popularize their crude oil and #2 heating oil contracts. In response to the first Earth Day on April 22nd, 1970, Philip Gotthelf became a crusader against the “Five Ps;” the pollution targets of 1) air, 2) water, 3) soil, 4) light, and 5) noise. In 1982, he revived Nikola Tesla’s magnetic induction light (MIL) to achieve energy efficiency and longevity while reducing light pollution and protecting soil and water from dispersed mercury contained in fluorescent bulbs. In 2007, he created a line of modernized MIL under Ultra-Tech Lighting™ which is now operating as Tesla Induction Lighting Co. in deference to Nikola Tesla who invented the technology. His design objectives included minimizing glare and light pollution to achieve Dark Sky compliance without sacrificing visual acuity, creating quiet drivers (ballasts) to address noise pollution such as the 20,000 cycle harmonic that can disturb bats and canines, encapsulating mercury to render it environmentally inert, eliminating high-frequency flicker to eliminate dangers of strobe migraines or even epilepsy, and developing precise spectral tuning to provide the correct wavelengths for specific applications. Tesla Induction Lighting has the only proven “white light” fixture that does not distract sea turtles like the Green and Loggerhead. His Snow-Bright™ brand has been approved as Dark Sky compliant by the Grand Teton Environmental Commission and the University of Wyoming infrared observatory. Philip Gotthelf has been an active environmentalist for more than half a century. 

Highlights from this episode:

Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle 

Sponsored by The National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors visit https://naild.org/

Headlines and Sources are available at www.RestoringDarkness.com

Michael identifies five of the seven deadly sins—gluttony, greed, pride, wrath, and sloth—as fundamental causes behind the growing light pollution epidemic. Gluttony manifests in our excessive and often wasteful use of electric light at night, far beyond what is necessary. Greed drives industries to prioritize profit over sustainable practices, accelerating the adoption of LED lighting and using utility ratepayers and driving up the cost of electricity. Pride fuels the desire to showcase power, wealth, or status through grand, illuminated displays, often without consideration for their consequences. Wrath is reflected in the aggressive rejection of criticism or calls for restraint, with some viewing efforts to reduce light pollution as an attack on the industry. Finally, sloth plays a role in our collective unwillingness to change habits or adopt more thoughtful lighting practices, even when the tools and knowledge to make better choices are readily available. This combination of human tendencies has led to a world where electric light dominates the night, often at great cost to ecosystems, human health, and the beauty of the natural world. 

Highlights from this episode:

Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle 

Headlines and Sources can be found at www.RestoringDarkness.com

This is one of the more mind-blowing episodes we’ve recorded. So much we hadn’t heard about before. Light pollution at night suppresses melatonin and can lead to cancer and the lighting industry deep state tried to intimidate and silence Dr Motta in 2016. That’s just the tip of the information iceberg that Dr. Motta reveals. Blue light is great during the day, but stay away from 469 - 489 nanometers at night. Dr. Motta had been in practice at North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Massachusetts, since 1983, recently retiring in 2022. He is a graduate of Boston College, with a BS in physics and biology, and of Tufts Medical School. He is board certified in Internal medicine and Cardiology, and is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology. He is an associate professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Motta has long been active in organized medicine, both in the American Medical Association (AMA) and in the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS), holding a number of posts through the years. He is a past President of the MMS. He was elected and served 8 years on the AMA council of Science and Public Health, and then was elected to the Board of Trustees of the AMA in 2018, recently completing his term. In May of 2023 at its annual meeting, the MMS awarded Dr Motta its highest honor, the “Award for Distinguished Service.” Dr Motta also has a lifelong interest in astronomy, and has hand built a number of telescopes and observatories through the years to do astronomical research, including his entirely homemade 32 inch F6 relay telescope located in Gloucester, MA. He has been awarded several national awards in astronomy, including the Las Cumbras award from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 2003, and also the Walter Scott Houston award from the northeast section of the Astronomical League, and in 2017 the Henry Olcott Award from the American Association of Variable star Observers (AAVSO). He has served as a president of the ATM’s of Boston, and has served as a council member of the AAVSO, and is a past president as well. He has also served on the Board of the IDA. He has worked on light pollution issues, and published several white papers on LP as a member of the AMA council of science and public health. He served on a UN committee (COPUOS) representing the AMA on light pollution for a worldwide effort to control LP and satellite proliferation. Finally, several years ago the International Astronomical Union awarded Dr Motta an asteroid in part for his work on light pollution as well as amateur research, asteroid 133537MarioMotta. 

Andy Deprato is a med student that’s already co-authored two research papers, with a third on the way. His meta-studies have correlated light pollution with seasonal allergies, asthma, a few different cancers and (once the third paper clears peer review) a number of mental health issues.
In this interview we discuss: which came first; light or health, how metastudies work, health and how it interacts with light and sleep and what he plans to do next with his career.

Andy Deprato is a second-year medical student at McMaster University's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. He previously completed a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology degree at the University of Alberta, where he began his research investigating the influence of artificial light at night on health outcomes. He has published on the influence of light at night on allergic diseases and been involved in projects assessing the potential role of artificial light at night with cancer and mental health outcomes through this work. Andy is also involved in research in public health, surgery, and patient accessibility and enjoys a range of sports and outdoor activities.

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www.restoringdarkness.com

Highlights from this episode:

Sponsored by Evluma

https://evluma.com/dark-sky-friendly-lighting/

Intro and outro music by Doctor Turtle 

Headlines and Sources can be found at RestoringDarkness.com