2024-09-23

Old man yelling at clouds

I live in a rural setting where the night skies are dark and magnificent. Until they aren't. Strangely and unfortunately many of my neighbors insist on having dusk to dawn "security" lights. Everyday at sunset these ugly monstrosities power up to indiscriminately light up the surroundings around, above and below them. But to what end? What is their purpose?

Of course the predictable answer is security but I suspect lights like this in rural settings actually have the opposite effect especially when the lit buildings are well away from the main road as these that I'm describing are. If left in the dark they would be invisible.

In my example I can easily see my neighbors a half mile away thanks to their "security" light. But standing at their front door looking directly at my tiny house they see nothing but the black of a night landscape. Even if my porch string lights are on they likely see little to nothing.

And they pay $20+ per month per light to essentially light up areas well away from their homes which have porch lights. Of course it's their business to spend their money as they choose but it's also a waste of energy and unnecessary carbon emissions. I suspect that this is an example of a common practice that is done out of habit and without much rational thought.

None of the neighbors I speak of are lighting up areas with livestock, say, cattle, goats or a chicken coop where it might make sense to deter predators. To my knowledge these neighbors are rarely out at night. Our area is not known for large predatory animals. The creatures likely to be prowling the dark of night in rural mid-America are armadillos, raccoons, possums and deer. Sure, we have the occasional fox and there are coyotes too but these generally steer clear unless one has livestock and every farmer I know that keeps livestock also keeps a couple of large dogs on their farm exactly for this reason.

So why light up the landscape all night while you're asleep in your bed?