City Light or Star Bright: A Review of Urban Light Pollution, Impacts, and Planning Implications

2021 ◽  
pp. 088541222098642
Author(s):  
Kameshwari Pothukuchi
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Light Pollution ◽  
Competing Values ◽  
Adverse Impacts ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Pollution Impacts ◽  
Multiple Categories

Light pollution (LP) is a growing scourge in metropolitan areas yet is largely ignored by planners. It has negative impacts on the health of humans and of wildlife and threatens views of the night sky. This article reviews adverse impacts in multiple categories, highlights mitigation strategies, and makes the case for more engagement in planning scholarship and practice especially in the United States. Defining LP and balancing competing values in its mitigation are political acts, challenged by, among other things, lack of public awareness, the primacy of energy efficiency among factors in decision-making, and the association of more light with greater security.

Light pollution: A review of the scientific literature

2021 ◽  
pp. 205301962110512
Author(s):  
Jesús Rodrigo-Comino ◽  
Stephan Seeling ◽  
Manuel K. Seeger ◽  
Johannes B. Ries
Keyword(s):  
Lower Atmosphere ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Light Pollution ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Pollution Impacts

Light pollution is the consequence of elevated lighting emitted by human-made artefacts to the lower atmosphere. Recently, there have been major advances in the assessment and mitigation of light pollution impacts on humans and the natural ecosystems. Severe negative impacts of light pollution have been highlighted while very few mitigation measures have been implemented. People (scientists, policymakers or stakeholders) interested in light pollution may not have a holistic perspective of the problem, and also there is a need for incorporating social and natural dimensions. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to review the literature on light pollution using ISI Web of Science by paying attention to the (i) type of publication, year and journal; (ii) impacts on specific elements; (iii) location and (iv) methods used. Our results indicated that the elevated number of papers come from a diverse range of disciplines, methods, places and scales. It is clear that light pollution is getting enough attention from the scientific community but decisions on the implementation of mitigation measures are left with the stakeholders, ordinary inhabitants, policymakers and politicians. Nevertheless, light pollution is having impacts on the health of humans and the natural ecosystem as perceived by experts and inhabitants having divergent perspectives. Thus, light pollution is multifaceted but difficult to be faced, mitigated and not holistically understood. This review paper groups the total impacts of light pollution on the Earth presents some contradictory results, summarises mitigation measures, and provides specific future research directions.

Rights Discourse and Assisted Suicide

2001 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-99
Author(s):  
Penney Lewis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Physician Assisted Suicide ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Supreme Courts ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Law Professors

The debate surrounding the legalization of assisted suicide has been galvanized in recent years by reports of specific cases of assisted suicide, primarily involving physicians such as Kevorkian and Quill, and by impassioned pleas for legalization and assistance in suicide from individuals suffering in the throes of terminal or agonizing diseases, such as Sue Rodriguez. Media attention on criminal trials of individuals accused of assisting in a suicide has heightened public awareness of the issue. The constitutionality of criminal prohibitions on assisted suicide has been tested in various jurisdictions, and has recently been considered by the Supreme Courts of both the United States and Canada. Following two narrowly unsuccessful attempts to enact dignified death provisions by referenda in Washington and California, Oregon voters passed the first of such proposed laws in November 1994, providing for physician-assisted suicide under certain specified conditions. Attempts to introduce legislation to legalize assisted suicide in other jurisdictions have been galvanized by the success in Oregon. A model statute has been drafted by a group of law professors, philosophers and medical professionals.

scholarly journals 307 A systems approach to understanding biosecurity decision-making

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_4) ◽  
pp. 43-43
Author(s):  
Scott C Merrill ◽  
Christopher Koliba ◽  
Gabriela Bucini ◽  
Eric Clark ◽  
Luke Trinity ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
African Swine Fever Virus ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Livestock Industry ◽  
Diarrhea Virus ◽  
Operational Level

Abstract Disease and its consequences result in social and economic impacts to the US animal livestock industry, ranging from losses in human capital to economic costs in excess of a billion dollars annually. Impacts would dramatically escalate if a devastating disease like Foot and Mouth Disease or African Swine Fever virus were to emerge in the United States. Investing in preventative biosecurity can reduce the likelihood of disease incursions and their negative impact on our livestock industry, yet uncertainty persists with regards to developing an effective biosecurity structure and culture. Here we show the implications of human behavior and decision making for biosecurity effectiveness, from the operational level to the owner/managerial level and finally to the systems level. For example, adjustments to risk messaging strategies could double worker compliance with biosecurity practices at the operational level. The improvement of our risk communication strategy may increase willingness to invest in biosecurity. Furthermore, the adaptation of policies could nudge behavior so that we observe a short disease outbreak followed by a quick eradication instead of a pandemic. Our research shows how the emergence of now-endemic diseases, such as Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus, cannot be adequately modeled without the use of a human behavioral component. Focusing solely on any one sector or level of the livestock system is not sufficient to predict emergent disease patterns and their social and economic impact on livestock industries. These results provide insight toward developing more effective risk mitigation strategies and ways to nudge behavior toward more disease resilient systems.

scholarly journals Stand against anti-Asian racial discrimination during COVID-19: A call for action

2020 ◽  
pp. 002087282097061
Author(s):  
Qin Gao ◽  
Xiaofang Liu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Political Rhetoric ◽  
The United States ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Negative Impacts

Racial discrimination against people of Chinese and other Asian ethnicities has risen sharply in number and severity globally amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This rise has been especially rapid and severe in the United States, fueled by xenophobic political rhetoric and racist language on social media. It has endangered the lives of many Asian Americans and is likely to have long-term negative impacts on the economic, social, physical, and psychological well-being of Asian Americans. This essay reviews the prevalence and consequences of anti-Asian racial discrimination during COVID-19 and calls for actions in practice, policy, and research to stand against it.

The Rural-Urban Continuum of Polarization: Understanding the Geography of the 2018 Midterms

The Forum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth M. Johnson ◽  
Dante J. Scala
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rural America ◽  
Rural Regions ◽  
Urban America ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
The Continuum

Abstract This study of the 2018 congressional midterms demonstrates how voting patterns and political attitudes vary across a spectrum of urban and rural areas in the United States. Rural America is no more a monolith than is urban America. The rural-urban gradient is better represented by a continuum than a dichotomy. This is evident in the voting results in 2018, just as it was in 2016. We found that the political tipping point lies beyond major metropolitan areas, in the suburban counties of smaller metropolitan areas. Democrats enjoyed even greater success in densely populated urban areas in 2018 than in 2016. Residents of these urban areas display distinctive and consistent social and political attitudes across a range of scales. At the other end of the continuum in remote rural areas, Republican candidates continued to command voter support despite the challenging national political environment. Voters in these rural regions expressed social and political attitudes diametrically opposed to their counterparts in large urban cores.

scholarly journals COVID-TRACK: world and USA SARS-COV-2 testing and COVID-19 tracking

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ye Emma Zohner ◽  
Jeffrey S. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Web Application ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Time Lags ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Major Health ◽  
Dynamic Representation ◽  
Graphical Displays ◽  
The Usa ◽  
User Friendly

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major health and socio-economic disruptions worldwide. Accurate investigation of emerging data is crucial to inform policy makers as they construct viral mitigation strategies. Complications such as variable testing rates and time lags in counting cases, hospitalizations and deaths make it challenging to accurately track and identify true infectious surges from available data, and requires a multi-modal approach that simultaneously considers testing, incidence, hospitalizations, and deaths. Although many websites and applications report a subset of these data, none of them provide graphical displays capable of comparing different states or countries on all these measures as well as various useful quantities derived from them. Here we introduce a freely available dynamic representation tool, COVID-TRACK, that allows the user to simultaneously assess time trends in these measures and compare various states or countries, equipping them with a tool to investigate the potential effects of the different mitigation strategies and timelines used by various jurisdictions. Findings COVID-TRACK is a Python based web-application that provides a platform for tracking testing, incidence, hospitalizations, and deaths related to COVID-19 along with various derived quantities. Our application makes the comparison across states in the USA and countries in the world easy to explore, with useful transformation options including per capita, log scale, and/or moving averages. We illustrate its use by assessing various viral trends in the USA and Europe. Conclusion The COVID-TRACK web-application is a user-friendly analytical tool to compare data and trends related to the COVID-19 pandemic across areas in the United States and worldwide. Our tracking tool provides a unique platform where trends can be monitored across geographical areas in the coming months to watch how the pandemic waxes and wanes over time at different locations around the USA and the globe.

Values of Voluntary Simplicity: Lifestyle and Motivation

1984 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avraham Shama ◽  
Joseph Wisenblit
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Voluntary Simplicity ◽  
Ecological Responsibility ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
And Behavior

This paper describes the relation between values and behavior of a new life style, that of voluntary simplicity which is characterized by low consumption, self-sufficiency, and ecological responsibility. Also, specific hypotheses regarding the motivation for voluntary simplicity and adoption in two areas of the United States were tested. Analysis shows (a) values of voluntary simplicity and behaviors are consistent, (b) the motivation for voluntary simplicity includes personal preference and economic hardship, and (c) adoption of voluntary simplicity is different in the Denver and New York City metropolitan areas.

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