The Value of Darkness: A Moral Framework for Urban Nighttime Lighting

Stone, Taylor

doi:10.1007/s11948-017-9924-0

Cited by 27 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…; Leliavski et al . ; Stone, ). Recent experimental evidence has shown the detrimental effects of non‐communicable chronic diseases initiated early in life (Osmond & Barker, ; Fowden et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gestational chronodisruption leads to persistent changes in the rat fetal and adult adrenal clock and function

Salazar

Richter

Spichiger

et al. 2018

The Journal of Physiology

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Light at night is essential to a 24/7 society, but it has negative consequences on health. Basically, light at night induces an alteration of our biological clocks, known as chronodisruption, with effects even when this occurs during pregnancy. Indeed, an abnormal photoperiod during gestation alters fetal development, inducing long-term effects on the offspring. Accordingly, we carried out a longitudinal study in rats, exploring the impact of gestational chronodisruption on the adrenal biorhythms and function of the offspring. Adult rats (90 days old) gestated under chronic photoperiod shift (CPS) decrease the time spent in the open arm zone of an elevated plus maze to 62% and increase the rearing time to 170%. CPS adults maintained individual daily changes in corticosterone, but their acrophases were distributed from 12.00 h to 06.00 h. CPS offspring maintained clock gene expression and oscillation, nevertheless no daily rhythm was observed in genes involved in the regulation and synthesis of steroids. Consistent with adult adrenal gland being programmed during fetal life, blunted daily rhythms of corticosterone, core clock gene machinery, and steroidogenic genes were observed in CPS fetal adrenal glands. Comparisons of the global transcriptome of CPS versus control fetal adrenal gland revealed that 1078 genes were differentially expressed (641 down-regulated and 437 up-regulated). In silico analysis revealed significant changes in Lipid Metabolism, Small Molecule Biochemistry, Cellular Development and the Inflammatory Response pathway (z score: 48-20). Altogether, the present results demonstrate that gestational chronodisruption changed fetal and adult adrenal function. This could translate to long-term abnormal stress responses and metabolic adaptation, increasing the risk of developing chronic diseases.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gestational chronodisruption leads to persistent changes in the rat fetal and adult adrenal clock and function

Salazar

Richter

Spichiger

et al. 2018

The Journal of Physiology

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“…This has drawn attention to the environmental and cultural value of darkness, and in particular the value of night sky (e.g., Bogard 2013;Gallaway 2014;Henderson 2010;Stone 2018). In response to the growing pervasiveness of artificial lighting and its negative impacts, efforts and organizations have emerged that work towards the protection and preservation of dark skies.…”

Section: Light Pollution and The Astronomical Sublimementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Restoring urban dark skies, then, can be understood as an act of reorienting the ecological and cosmological sense of place for cities and their inhabitants, of re-connecting the urban with the natural. It allows for the incorporation and fostering of the full spectrum of values associated with darkness, from efficiency and sustainability to a connection to nature (see Stone 2018).…”

Section: Darkening Skies As Urban Restorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Re-envisioning the Nocturnal Sublime: On the Ethics and Aesthetics of Nighttime Lighting

Stone

2018

Topoi

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Grounded in the practical problem of light pollution, this paper examines the aesthetic dimensions of urban and natural darkness, and its impact on how we perceive and evaluate nighttime lighting. It is argued that competing notions of the sublime, manifested through artificial illumination and the natural night sky respectively, reinforce a geographical dualism between cities and wilderness. To challenge this spatial differentiation, recent work in urban-focused environmental ethics, as well as environmental aesthetics, are utilized to envision the moral and aesthetic possibilities of a new urban nocturnal sublime. Through articulating the aspirations and constraints of a new urban nocturnal experience, this paper elucidates the axiological dimensions of light pollution, draws attention to nightscapes as a site of importance for urban-focused (environmental) philosophy, and examines the enduring relevance of the sublime for both the design of nighttime illumination and the appreciation of the night sky.

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“…This is followed by a look into the ethics of nighttime lightning, and in particular the issue of light pollution. The value of darkness (Stone 2018b) is introduced as a moral framework for nighttime lighting, and applied to road lighting. In doing so, a weak and strong moral claim is articulated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Driving in the Dark: Designing Autonomous Vehicles for Reducing Light Pollution

2019

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This paper proposes that autonomous vehicles should be designed to reduce light pollution. In support of this specific proposal, a moral assessment of autonomous vehicles more comprehensive than the dilemmatic life-and-death questions of trolley problem-style situations is presented. The paper therefore consists of two interrelated arguments. The first is that autonomous vehicles are currently still a technology in development, and not one that has acquired its definitive shape, meaning the design of both the vehicles and the surrounding infrastructure is open-ended. Design for values is utilized to articulate a path forward, by which engineering ethics should strive to incorporate values into a technology during its development phase. Second, it is argued that nighttime lighting-a critical supporting infrastructure-should be a prima facie consideration for autonomous vehicles during their development phase. It is shown that a reduction in light pollution, and more boldly a better balance of lighting and darkness, can be achieved via the design of future autonomous vehicles. Two case studies are examined (parking lots and highways) through which autonomous vehicles may be designed for "driving in the dark." Nighttime lighting issues are thus inserted into a broader ethics of autonomous vehicles, while simultaneously introducing questions of autonomous vehicles into debates about light pollution.

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The Value of Darkness: A Moral Framework for Urban Nighttime Lighting

Cited by 27 publications

References 38 publications

Gestational chronodisruption leads to persistent changes in the rat fetal and adult adrenal clock and function

Gestational chronodisruption leads to persistent changes in the rat fetal and adult adrenal clock and function

Re-envisioning the Nocturnal Sublime: On the Ethics and Aesthetics of Nighttime Lighting

Driving in the Dark: Designing Autonomous Vehicles for Reducing Light Pollution

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