It’s a long drive from Fort Worth to Santa Fe and back, and my family was dreading the trip. Only the idea of family, Santa Fe, and skiing made them even consider it. However, I looked forward to parts of it. When you leave Amarillo, headed west on Hwy. 40, past Vega, Texas suddenly you leave prairie behind you. The land butts up in strange outcroppings, as though it were anticipating the buttes and mesas of New Mexico.
And then suddenly, you are in
New Mexico where the land changes rapidly. It’s flat up close, with scrub brush
dotting what look like pastures. I’m no botanist, but it looks like creosote
and mesquite, though not the feathery large mesquite we get in Texas. In the
distance, beyond the open land are the strange, stark shapes of mesas and
buttes. The whole landscape is so different from Texas that it draws me in,
perhaps in anticipation. We turn north at Klines Corner and after a bit on that
road, the landscape changes again. The once-straight road twists and turns in
hills, and mountains appear in the distance. I love it all, perhaps because I
am always happy and “at home” in Santa Fe. It is for me, a place of many good
memories
But then, too soon, comes the
return trip home. Once past Amarillo, you begin that long stretch of small
towns leading to Wichita Falls. If you’ve traveled that road often enough, you
can click those towns off in memory. By Claude, the first town, I sort of let
out a sigh and think, “We’re home. We’re back in Texas.”
For us this week, we made it
to Wichita Falls in daylight, so I had a chance to study the towns. In most
towns the highway bypasses the town, so you don’t really see it. Memphis for
instance has town on one side and railroad tracks on the other. Once a friend
and I deliberately left the highway and explored each town, sometimes stopping
at junk stores, other times just imagining what life in, say Quanah, would be
like. The five-hour drive took us almost ten, but it was a wonderful
experience.
This time, as we barreled
through, intent on making time, my first thought was that the small town in
Texas is alive and well, albeit a bit shabby and in need of several coats of
paint. Still, when we hear about young people leaving the small towns of their
youth and the subsequent death of those towns, it was reassuring to see that
life stll seems to be going forward in places like Clarendon and Chillicothe
and Vernon.
By Wichita Falls, dark was
closing in, and as we angled southeast to Fort Worth, I noticed how brightly
lit the towns are. Some lighting is decorative (no, it was not all Christmas
lights), some is for security with lots of floodlights, too much is neon advertising.
All of it is bright, and as a result you can see towns glowing from miles away.
Up close the effect is almost blinding in some cases. I had the same thought I
often have in my own backyard: could we tone it down a little and still be
safe?
Studies have shown that
excessive light disturbs the circadian rhythms (24-hour internal clock) of
birds and other wildlife, altering their physiology and behavior because they
are no longer able to distinguish day from night. An appalling number of birds
die each year because they fly into well-lit skyscrapers. Light pollution, or
the excessive us of artificial light, can even effect human health and
well-being, with some studies linking it to various forms of cancer. With
excessive light, our eyes lose the ability to adjust to darkness. In a city,
for example, we can no longer see the stars in the night sky because our vision
is impaired by excessive light. All that lighting costs money and energy and
contributes to climate change.
What can we do? Use motion sensors, dimmers, and timers. Use
LED lights but only in warm tones, never blue, and lower the wattage. Use fixtures
that direct light downward, never up nor over a wide expanse.
I’m sure the folks in
Henrietta and Bowie and Decatur are relieved that I didn’t have time to stop
and educate them about light pollution, but it is a problem too few know about.
At home, I struggle with it, because our neighborhood has “night visitors” and
I want outdoor lights for security. But my conscience bothers me. We hope to
put in some downward lighting in trees and along a walkway which will enable us
to eliminate some flood lights.
It was an interesting drive,
but as you can imagine, I was glad to get home.Photo from citiesatnght.org
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