Webinar: Starving for Darkness – How Light Pollution Impacts Wildlife

Since the industrial revolution and the invention of the electric light bulb, the natural ecosystems of the Earth spend more and more time bathed in artificial light within a 24-hour cycle. How does the artificial light and lack of darkness impact wildlife?

Much of the study of light and health has been dedicated to the impact of light upon humans. However, animals and plants are also intrinsically photosensitive and subjected to the unwanted effects of stray light. How can a rethinking of design and codes alleviate some of the these harmful effects?

Webinar link will be emailed in advance of the webinar. Please join early to check your Zoom and computer audio/visual settings.

Speaker:
Jane Slade, MID, LC, IES
Specification Sales Manager, Speclines

Jane Slade, MID, LC, IES is the Specification Sales Manager for Speclines in Massachusetts, a lighting manufacturer’s representative agency specializing in outdoor lighting for municipalities, universities, corporations, commercial developments, and transportation agencies through an interdisciplinary approach of blending design, science and the latest technology.

She is also a lighting educator, consultant, and researcher at Anatomy of Night (www.anatomyofnight.com), researching the many ways in which light impacts our environment, human health, wildlife, biodiversity, and interdependence.

Slade is a recent Richard Kelly Grant recipient for explorations into the social and emotional impacts of light and lighting, through her work in creating lighting fixtures from waste materials in India, and through art installations focused on manipulating emotional experiences with light and color.

Slade is a member of the IES Committee for Outdoor Environmental Lighting, as well as a past Vice President of the DLF of New England, having chaired the scholarship which sends university students to both Light + Building in Germany, and Lightfair in North America.

Slade practices light art in her studio, Anatomy of Light (www.anatomyoflight.com), and is currently writing a book about the importance of the natural daylight cycle.