Illuminated
The Netherlands is one of the most illuminated countries in Europe. The most important applications of lighting are lamps in greenhouses, on sports grounds, advertising lighting and public lighting.

Light pollution in our country has been documented by American satellites. The colours indicate the amount / intensity of light that is radiated up into the sky. The more red; the more light radiated into the sky (average amount of light radiation per square hectare).

satellite image of Europe

Relatively little is known about light nuisance or pollution. There seem to be some obvious negative effects though: light and energy waste, nature disruption, negative effects on humane health and the disruption of landscapes by night.

Besides food, water and shelter, darkness could be seen as an important necessity of life. Just like space and silence. It is getting more and more clear that the biological clock of plants and animals (including humans!) becomes disrupted by too much light during the night.


Night of the Night
With their campaign "Laat het donker donker" ("Let the dark be dark" ;-) ), Dutch environmental organisations 'Natuur en Milieu' and 'Proviniciale Milieufederaties' want to raise consciousness among people about the extraordinary aspects of dark nights and the importance of them for all living organisms. As special event of the campaign there will be a "Nacht van de Nacht" ("Night of the Night) on Saturday October 27. During this evening all the way into the night you can go bird and mammal watching, gaze at the stars or listen to ancient stories in one of the Dutch fortresses and other monumental buildings.


Just how dark are the nights where you live?
The Netherlands is a tiny country in a big world. I'm curious to find an answer to this question. But I'm also very curious to find out about how you feel about this subject. What does the night or darkness mean to you? Please feel free to leave your thoughts ;-).

Have a great day...and night!
Merlijn

'What makes you happy?'

...someone asked me this morning. That took me by surprise. Not so much the question itself, but the realisation that there is a LOT that makes me happy. And the fact that I don't actually need anything to be happy. I just need to be. That's when I see the beauty in little things.

So this is what made my day one day:

nursery in a forest puddle

Wandering through the woods early spring this year, we came across a small forest puddle. It appeared that many frogs had created their nursery there. I can easily lie down beside a place like this and loose all track of time simply observing. I feel blessed to share this world with creatures like this. Hopefully the tadpoles grow into strong little frogs before the puddle dries up. Go go little ones!

What made my day today? The fact that someone cared to ask what makes me happy :-)

So :-) what makes YOU happy today?

   
"Tony & The Slave-free Chocolate Factory

Chocolate is something you eat for pleasure, until you discover the appalling things that happen on cocoa plantations. In the production of cocoa beans even children are being exploited. Slavery still exists.

Dutch journalist and documentarian Teun van de Keuken met with former child slaves from Burkina Faso who worked without wages and under atrocious conditions on cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast.

"Knowing this," Van de Keuken said, "Eating chocolate makes me a criminal."

From art. 416 of the Dutch Penal Code:
Whoever receives goods...while knowing at the time he receives them or when they are made available to him...that it concerns unlawfully obtained goods is guilty of wilfully receiving...unlawfully obtained goods and shall be punished by a term in prison of maximum four years or a Category Five fine.

And he ate another chocolate bar...

Criminals belong behind bars. So Teun van de Keuken turned himself in. In the meantime, he decided to produce his own chocolate bar."

Text quoted from the website of the Dutch tv program Keuringsdienst van Waarde.


I wasn't really aware of this particular matter myself at all. That makes me feel like a hypocrite. Ashamed even. And shocked. Angry! Slavery. Something we all state as "that should never happen again" is happening at this very moment. Supported -once again- by big multinationals and millions of people in the world. People who -just like me- didn't know, didn't realize, but hopefully do care and will act upon that. Are we going to let this continue?