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So a new piece of legislation is currently working its way through the New York State assembly, which would create something called the Dark Sky Program here in New York, or otherwise known as the Dark Sky Initiative. You see, for many years now, the people of New York, they basically struggle to see the stars at night. Even if you happen to live in upstate New York, 100, 200 miles away from the city, the glow from the city is still enough to cloud the night sky. But a new law may be about to change that. But to do so, it might bring about some serious statewide changes that might, at the very least, potentially increase the crime rate. You see, the bill currently making its way through Albany is called the New York State Dark Skies Protection Act. Its ostensible aim is threefold. To reduce light pollution to protect wildlife, as well as to stop statewide energy wastage. To the legislation itself, quote, the goal is to preserve and enhance the state's dark sky while promoting safety for people, birds and other wildlife, conserving energy and reducing our carbon footprint, and preserving the aesthetic qualities of the night sky. Now, in terms of the specifics of why light pollution is an actual problem in and of itself, the bill lays out the argument this light pollution, or the excessive or poor use of artificial light at night, is one of the most pervasive forms of environmental alteration caused by humans. Light pollution has many negative impacts, including the disruption of the natural patterns of wildlife, wasted energy and increased output of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases, interruption of human sleep and other adverse health impacts, and the loss of the aesthetic qualities and cultural significance of the night sky. And then zooming in a little bit further on the question of human health by itself, the bill goes on to say that our ancestors used to enjoy the full majestic night sky experience. However, the Milky Way is just now no longer visible throughout the entire Northeast coast. They then cited a 2016 New York City study which found the following. Quote, almost one in seven New York City residents have their sleep disrupted by light at least three days per week. The bill adds that this is a true detriment to human health. Quote, exposure to excess artificial light can disrupt the body's natural circadian rhythms, causing changes to brain, brainwave patterns, hormone production, cell regulation, and other biologic activities. Now, I'm sure most people have basically just accepted that trade off from living in the city that, hey, I live in New York City. It's full of energy. It's the city that never sleeps. There's a lot of opportunity here. But I guess the negative is that the night sky is inaccessible and there is A lot of both noise and light pollution. So. But this bill I guess aims to change that and make that no longer a trade off. Then there is also the energy component as well as the associated monetary cost of the was wasted energy? Quote the International Dark sky association estimates that at least 30% of all outdoor lighting in the United States alone is wasted primarily by lights that aren't shielded. That wasted light adds up to $3.3 billion in lost electricity costs and the release of 21 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. And then atop the health implications as well as the energy wastage slash environmental impact are the birds quote 70% of bird species migrate each year and of those birds, 80% migrate at night, using the night sky to help them navigate to and from their breeding grounds. However, as they pass over big cities on their way, they can become disoriented by bright artificial lights, often causing them to collide with buildings or windows. Now, the best estimates that I've been able to find is that building collisions do make for big problems for for migrating birds, leading to approximately 1 billion bird deaths per year. Which sounds like a lot, but for some additional context, it's also been estimated that cats kill somewhere between 1 to 4 billion birds per year. So for a bird, basically the building doesn't get you. The cats on the ground will. Regardless though, it's the birds, the inability to see the stars, the negative effect on human health, as well as the wasted energy component of it all, these are the four justifications for this new bill. And to fix these problems, the law will mandate structural changes to be implemented within the next year and a half here in New York State. By 2028, all outdoor lights will be required to be shielded, pointing the light downwards and not sideways or into the sky. Non compliant lights would have to be shut off between 11pm and 5am unless they are motion activated or on a timer. Quote the legislation would require shielded lights between the hours of 11pm and 5am to preserve and enhance the state's dark sky. Shielded lights are lighting fixtures that direct the light downward and reduce the amount of light pollution being emitted visually. If you would like to imagine it, shielded lights are basically the ones that have a cap on top of them so that they can shine the light down onto the ground but not up into the sky. And it's also worth mentioning that this requirement would not just be for New York City, this would be a statewide law applying to everyone in the rural countryside as well. Quote the proposed legislation, however, doesn't call for no lighting at night New York State residents can still have motion detection lights that automatically shut after 15 minutes, as well as lights on their porches as long as the lights are shielded. And there's a number of exceptions that ease some of those worries, which is considerate of the government. But it would probably still mean that most people will have to replace or at the very least augment the lighting fixtures that they currently have in place. Also included within the purview of this bill, besides residential and commercial properties are also parks and sporting arenas. Unless they have a carve out if the event was already in progress before 11pm before that deadline, they can have lights for as long as they want. But if they start after 11pm, it's a different story. Some of the lights to be exempted from the bill, they include the lighting systems at airports, emergency lighting used by the police, ambulance and fire department, as well as the spotlights used in prisons to find escapees. Also, owners of historical landmarks can apply for special exemptions. And of course, high density zones like Times Square will actually be exempted wholesale. Additionally, you might be wondering if the government will still allow you to put up Christmas lights around your house, one of the few joys in the otherwise bleak New York upstate winters. And we're in luck because the bill would not apply to holiday lights. Quote, your holiday lights should be safe from any changes the bill would make. Incandescent fixtures of 150 watts or less and other sources of less than 70 watts are allowed. And the proposed legislation specifically notes seasonal and decorative lighting are included in this exemption. Now, at this point you might be wondering, hey, maybe upstate rural New York is fine, but. But isn't New York City not one of the safest places at the moment? With lowering the number of lights in the general public, as well as making the lights that remain be motion detection lights that automatically shut off after 15 minutes, would that make the city more safe or less safe? Now, of course, the answer to that question can only be discovered after the fact. But AM New York, the paper that's distributed for free by the subway here in the city. They interviewed local homeowners to find their thoughts on the bill. And. And here's what one of them said. The idea of the front of my house not being lit at night makes me very uncomfortable. I find comfort in knowing the front is lit up. I feel like the light deters people from coming to your door and snooping around your yard. Another person who was interviewed said the following, quote, it poses a huge safety risk. There will be an increase in burglaries and robberies. Also, someone could trip walking into their own house if their walkway is dimly lit. And of course, there's always the point to make that in public infrastructure, especially for some reason in New York City, a lot of it breaks down and then remains broken down for a long time. So if you do have public parks with street lamps that now have to be on 15 minute timers, well, you can imagine that the sensor might get dirty, maybe a leaf gets stuck to it, a bird poops on it, and then it just remains inactive for months, years. I mean, I've seen potholes remain in the exact same spot for years without getting taken care of. So you can imagine the same thing happening with the streetlights. And so even though the argument against it might be that, hey, you know, the, the park will light up as soon as somebody comes there, that's not a guarantee, right? Things fail and then they don't get fixed for a long time for some reason. However, on the flip side, in order to give credence to the project and show you both sides, other cities that have tried these similar dark sky programs in order to be able to once again see the night sky, cities like Boulder City over in Nevada, Sedona, Arizona as well as Moab, Utah, they have reported lower electricity bills for the city, reduced sky glow, as well as less wildlife getting killed, without any reports of an uptick in crime. And so there you have it. Lastly though, in the context of New York specifically, you might be wondering how exactly would this type of a law be enforced? Well, according to Ms. Deborah Glick, who is the New York State Assemblymember actually pushing this initiative forward, she's a Democrat from Manhattan, and how it's definitely not going to be enforced, according to her, is through fines. She says that the law is about encouraging people rather than forcing them. There are no fines. This is really about encouraging the Department of Environmental Conservation to provide educational materials to raise awareness. So without an enforcement mechanism, it's unclear how a law like this would operate even after it would go into effect, especially when you're dealing with, besides public parks, people's homes in the rural countryside. Regardless, though, that is where we're at in terms of the next steps. The bill was recently voted on in the New York State Assembly's Environmental Conservation Committee, where it passed by a vote of 20 to 9. It still, however, needs to get a full vote from both the State assembly as well as the State Senate, and then it would need to be signed into effect by the governor. So we'll keep an eye on that and give you any updates as they become available. In the meantime, though, if you would like to read the full text of the Dark Skies bill, as well as an interesting article about the results of other cities that had implemented this type of a bill already and sort of their findings about it, I will throw the bill as well as those articles down into the description box below this video, which is that description box right below those like and subscribe buttons. Both of which I really hope you smash. Thank you so much for doing so. If you've already done it, and if you haven't, please take that opportunity right now. And then lastly, over on EpicTV, we just published a phenomenal documentary called Healthcare Decoded, totally separate from the Dark Skies initiative. Although I guess if you believe that the light pollution is really causing healthcare issues, I guess it is somewhat related. But the documentary basically is a great It's a series of interviews with really thoughtful doctors. And in it, the film exposes some of the actual problems with America's healthcare system. Because we all kind of feel it intuitively that on the one hand, the US has the best, most advanced healthcare system in the world that literally everyone with money flocks to. But at the same time, the system is complicated, convoluted, and because of years of government patchwork solutions to all these problems, the whole thing is like a maze to navigate through. One great example, I've mentioned it previously on the show, but I know of a guy who, he needed some emergency work done. So he went to the hospital and he got it done. And afterwards they gave him a bill for $4,000 because they assumed he was uninsured. They gave him the full bill, 4K. He called the hospital and he said, oh, the billing department. And he said, hey, I am actually insured. And he gave them his information, his insurance policy number and everything. And they said, oh, okay, since you're insured, you actually owe us $5,000 as a copay. And he said, how could that be? You said, so it's 4,000, no insurance, but it's 5,000 with insurance. And they said, yeah, because if you don't have insurance, we just charge $4,000 for the procedure and you pay it if you do have insurance. We actually negotiated a price of $18,000 with your insurance company and then your copay for that is $5,000. So he looked at that and he went, that's crazy. And so he told the building department like, okay, hey, in that case, forget I told you I had insurance. I'll just go ahead and pay $4,000 for the procedure. And they told him no. Because you had a policy during this frame of time when you got the treatment, we legally cannot charge you this other price because you had the policy in place. We can only charge you this $18,000. And so that just gives you an idea of how broken the system is, because I'm sure there's some technical reason for that to be the case. But the fact that it could be the case just shows you how, how warped the system has become. And so the documentary, it lifts the veil and shows you how the system actually operates behind the scenes. But most importantly, it actually gives you some practical, real world tips on navigating this complex system. And so, yeah, it's a great documentary. You can find a link to it. It's right there at the top of the description box below. Just click on that link. It'll take you to EpicTV, where you can watch that doc and many others right away. So check it out. And then, until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times. Stay informed and most importantly, stay free.