You may even see a spectacular firefly show. Let your eyes adjust and you’ll be amazed by what you can see. Turn out the lights, sit on your porch or around a dim glowing campfire. Allow yourself to experience a truly dark night this summer.
We need to get more comfortable with and embrace the darkness. So, we need to let our eyes and brains experience more darkness. As such, they are tempting proxies for things like standard of living and economic activity. Poor sleep leads to more health and wellness issues. At their core, night lights are a generally human phenomenon. There are many studies that suggest our natural sleep/wake cycles are disrupted by the use of artificial lights and screens. Light pollution not only impacts fireflies, it also impacts us. As a result, the song You Know You re Right was released, and casual fans got to hear the first new Nirvana in almost a decade. When Courtney Love attempted to block the release, Dave Grohl leaked MP3 files onto the internet. You may even discover you can keep them off through the end of summer, or at least put them on a timer or motion detector, so they don’t burn all night. After a long legal battle, the band released a self-titled greatest hits CD in 2002. Turn off or shade your porch and outside lights, at least for the week of Sunday, June 19 through Saturday June 25. So, help the fireflies and lightning bugs in your yard find each other. If fireflies are blinded by lights (especially white and amber lights) or their flashes are overpowered by extensive and prolonged light intrusion, they cannot find a mate and thereby, the next generation is lost. What was even more concerning and compelling was that light of any color essentially shuts down the flashing replies of females to attract her mate. In a controlled month-long study, she found that the flashing displays of male fireflies were impacted more by certain colors and intensities of light than others. However, Tufts University firefly researcher, Avalon Owens, did a study here in Kellettville in 2019 to find out the specific reasons. It may not be surprising to imagine that fireflies are especially prone to the impacts of artificial light pollution. Scientists believe that the world is losing firefly populations, and one reason is simply light pollution. This year once again, we are encouraging everyone in Forest County, and for that matter, everywhere in Pennsylvania to take part in the “Lights Out for Lighting Bugs” campaign. Here’s something simple and easy you can do to help fireflies (aka Lightning Bugs) directly. After all, the firefly is our State’s official insect. As we approach another summer and the 10th firefly season for the Pennsylvania Firefly Festival, the organizers want to remind the residents and campers in Forest County and the Allegheny National Forest region that we have something unique and precious in our area that deserves our attention, respect and protection.