3 days ago
If You Love Moths (and You Should), Replace Your Porch Light With Something Better
If you care about the environment, you should care about moths. 'Without them, we would disappear from this planet in short order,' says Doug Tallamy, entomologist and author of several books about creating insect-friendly backyards.
That's because insects, including moths, pollinate plants and feed other animals, especially birds and bats, which makes them a key part of the ecosystem. Moth caterpillars make up most of the diet of young birds, so without moths, there would be fewer chickadees, robins, and bluebirds in yards and parks. Bird populations are on the decline already; the United States has lost about 3 billion birds in the past 50 years.
The world, meanwhile, is experiencing a massive decline in insect populations. 'Light pollution is one of the major causes of insect decline,' said Tallamy, alongside other factors including habitat loss and pesticides.
Scientists believe that in nature, nighttime insects orient themselves to the ultraviolet light from the moon. In artificial lights, it's the blue wavelengths that mislead them. Left: My porch lamp at full white brightness. Right: Adjusting it to a warm yellow or orange doesn't impact how clearly I can see but saves a lot of moth lives. Grant Clauser/NYT Wirecutter
So simply changing your lights from white and blue wavelengths to yellow ones can save countless insect lives. After I switched my front and back porches from bright white to orangey-yellow, I stopped seeing insects swirling around my lamps like a mosh pit. And there's evidence to back up the theory: A 2016 study presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference showed that warm-toned LED lights attracted significantly fewer insects than incandescent or fluorescent lights.
Smart bulbs allow you to turn down the blue wavelengths, offering your moth friends a yellow light that is still bright enough for you to see by but won't turn your lamp into a Death Star. You can opt for either white tone-adjustable bulbs, which allow you to tune the light from cool white to warmer hues, or 100% color-adjustable bulbs, which are capable of producing millions of colors. The color-adjustment feature looks slightly different in each smart-bulb app. Choose either a warm yellow or a white that's less than 3,000 K. WiZ app for iOS, LIFX app for iOS, Wyze app for iOS
Not all smart-bulb apps display color temperatures (as the app for our top-pick WiZ bulb does), but if yours does, it's best to select 3,000 K or lower, as the DarkSky Project, an advocacy group focused on the effects of light pollution on humans and wildlife, recommends.
However, a warm yellow or orange light isn't the best for reading. When I want to sit outside in the evening to read a book, I use the Wirecutter-recommended Glocusent Bookmark Style Reading Light for supplemental light and leave the porch light in bug-safe mode.
