Lighting the way to darker skies

Dr Joseph Caruana

As the sun sets and the sky darkens, a black velvety curtain adorned with flecks of twinkling lights is drawn across the heavens, and a milky white band of fuzzy glow stretches majestically overhead. Unfortunately, this experience is nowadays denied to us thanks to artificial lighting. The sky is often left awash in a cold, jarring glow, making Malta one of only five countries whose citizens are denied the possibility of observing the Milky Way from their home.

A few select coastal sites remain where we can see the Milky Way. But even those are under continuous threat. In 2002 the Malta Environment and Planning Authority designated a number of sites in Gozo and Comino as Dark Sky Heritage Areas, stating that ‘reflective signs shall be employed to guide driving at night, whilst the installation of lighting which is not related to aerial or maritime navigation, shall be strongly discouraged.’ Since then, light pollution has still been increasing and is seriously impinging upon these areas.

To some, the ability to appreciate and study the night sky might be less of a priority, but light pollution affects our lives in many more ways. Our night-time environment is fast becoming a vista of blindingly cold light, and we need to act now to reverse this. Badly designed lighting can result in glare, which is especially dangerous while driving. Light trespassing into people’s homes creates a myriad of problems, ranging from mild discomfort to serious sleep disruption. Studies have linked bright LED lighting with adverse health effects, as it can interfere with our circadian (daily) rhythm. Light pollution also disturbs wildlife. For example, conserving colonies of birds that make their home at the cliffs of Dwejra, like Scopoli’s Shearwater and Yelkouan Shearwater, depends heavily on our efforts to curb light pollution.

The solution is not as drastic as switching off all our lights, but adopting full cutoff lighting in streets to illuminate the ground without spilling light everywhere else.

Luckily, light pollution is a reversible problem. Authorities can choose to bring about positive change, sometimes requiring little effort. Do we really need our public monuments, churches, building facades, and playing fields to be illuminated all night long, oftentimes with skyward-pointing floodlighting? When planning new lights for a road or a public space, should we not consider the impact the proposed lighting will have on the surrounding community and environment?

Conservation of our natural environment is not diametrically opposed to human activity and business interests. Other countries have long recognised the night sky’s potential for eco-tourism.

The Department of Physics (Faculty of Science, University of Malta [UM]) and Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy (UM) are currently embarking on a new study of our islands’ night sky’s brightness. Interested parties, authorities, and non-governmental organisations alike are most welcome and encouraged to get in touch. It is only through awareness, dedication, and proper coordination that we can help ensure that future generations can still enjoy the peaceful beauty of the Maltese night sky.

Further reading: Falchi et al., ‘The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness’, Science Advances, vol. 2, no. 6, 2016, e1600377

Author: Dr Joseph Caruana

Onfoħ

Breathing moves air in and out of the lungs. Oxygen goes in, carbon dioxide is flushed out. An exchange occurs within our internal environment. Onfoħ is an installation that explores the phenomenon of carbon emissions through human respiration.

Carbon emissions are loosely defined as the release of greenhouse gases and their precursors into the atmosphere over a specified area and time. This notion is usually linked to the burning of fossil fuels like natural gas, crude oil, and coal. In short—human activity.

From the very beginning, humans have altered their environment. In fact, an average person takes 12 to 20 breaths per minute, amounting to an average of 23,040 breaths per day. The world’s population collectively breathes out around 2500 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, around 7% of the annual carbon dioxide tonnage produced by burning fossil fuels.

Although the carbon dioxide produced through breathing is part of a closed loop in which our output is matched by the input from the food we eat, it can be used as a metaphor to visualise other unseen outputs from other man-made sources: transportation, electricity, heating, water consumption, food production.

Onfoħ was designed to engage citizens and address an overwhelmingly challenging environmental problem of our time—our inability to visualise our own carbon footprint. The work does this by showing that which is usually unseen—the physical manifestation of carbon emissions.

The installation consisted of five plinth-like structures, each housing a glass container of lime water. Stencilled onto the pillars were illustrations of lungs, each consecutive pair having decreased surface areas, conveying a sense of degeneration. When the audience interacted with the installation, breathing into the lime water and adding carbon dioxide, they triggered a chemical reaction that produced insoluble calcium carbonate. The clear solution turned milky, making the invisible visible.

Humans contribute constantly to carbon-based, hazardous waste production, and the installation demanded that they face that reality.

Note: The installation was displayed as part of a collective exhibition entitled Human Matter, hosted by the Malta Society of Arts at the end of last year. David Falzon, Matthew Schembri and Annalise Schembri teamed up to work on this artwork as soon as they finished reading for an MFA in Digital Arts (Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences, University of Malta).

Author: David Falzon

Hailing a new era for ocean literacy

Prof. Alan Deidun

The Maltese Islands, despite their miniscule terrestrial extent, have always managed to punch way above their weight when it comes to aquatic matters. Hosting the International Ocean Institute, the Islands also have a pivotal role in the formulation of the Law of the Sea through the Maltese representative to the United Nations, Arvid Pardo. The ‘father of the law of the sea’, as he is affectionately known, delivered a prophetic speech to the UN General Assembly on November 1st, 1967. He described the sea as ‘the common heritage of mankind’, a phrase which still resonates to this very day, and which is enshrined within Article 136 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Europe’s seas are currently being assessed more than ever for their potential, as Blue Growth (the long term strategy to support sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors as a whole) gains greater traction throughout the continent. We are plumbing our seas to greater depths in the search for elusive minerals, cures, genetic resources, energy sources, and a plethora of other untapped assets. In the race to unlock more of the ocean’s secrets, ocean literacy assumes a compelling role—to revise the paradigm of human impacts on our ocean so far. In fact, in the history of human exploitation of the ocean, we first exerted deleterious impacts on the ocean environment, only to become aware of those impacts and resort to ocean literacy to generate further awareness, control, and change.

The challenge now is to anticipate developments. A precautionary approach is needed to soften impacts when venturing into unchartered grounds. Some might label this utopic, I prefer to call it ‘foresight.’ For us to reach this stage, governments and institutions must invest heavily in ocean literacy to ensure more responsible use and treatment of that 70% of our planet. It is imperative for potential investors to have a grounding in ocean literacy principles, with the aim of paralleling the considerable success being had introducing ocean literacy concepts within school curricula and initiatives across Europe.

We are gearing up towards the International Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Proposed by UNESCO last June  at the Ocean Conference in New York, it will span from 2021 until 2030. The considerable number of abstracts submitted for the European Marine Scientists Educators Association (EMSEA) Malta conference, now approaching the 70 mark, is testimony to the profile that EMSEA has managed to achieve since its establishment a decade ago. It also confirms the status that ocean literacy now holds across the European continent and beyond. Let’s keep the momentum going!

Author: Prof. Alan Deidun
Read more here: http://www.emsea.eu/