Impact

BRING SPARKS BACK TO SUMMER EVENINGS

Fireflies and Startrails No.1 by Mike Lewinski.

Photo by: Mike Lewinski. Fireflies and Star Trails No. 1.

When summer twilights edge out the long days, backyards and forests begin to spark. Fireflies lazily dazzle, hanging heavy in the warm air.

Their numbers have been diminishing as pollution and human encroachment have impacted their habitats. But there are ways you can help to bring the sparkle back.

Fireflies glow in hues of yellow, light red, green and orange. They look like tiny fairies. Some species synchronize their sparks to produce a fabulous light show.

These bioluminescent beauties produce the most efficient light ever made (that’s right, even better than any incandescent light-bulb on the market!)

A chemical called luciferin inside their abdomen/tail combines with oxygen, calcium and adenosine triphosphate, causing a chemical reaction which creates their spectacular light.

Here are some things you can do to amp up the sparks:

1. Lights out. Since fireflies communicate, and more importantly flirt, by flashing their own light at other fireflies in the area, light pollution disrupts their natural patterns of communication and makes it very difficult for them to signal and attract mates.

2. Don’t use pesticides and herbicides. Fireflies cannot stand the scent of many chemicals and will evade any areas with potentially harmful odors.

3. Don’t pave paradise. By paving over grassy areas, or knocking down large shrubbery and trees, we essentially destroy fireflies’ whole ecosystem. Not only do most fireflies eat the slugs and snails typically found in woodlands and grassy areas, but female fireflies also need large shrubbery to rest and mate.

Invite some magic back to your garden again. Invite fireflies.

FIREFLIES IN THE GARDEN

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,

And here on earth come emulating flies,

That though they never equal stars in size,

(And they were never really stars at heart)

Achieve at times a very star-like start.

Only, of course, they can’t sustain the part.

— By Robert Frost

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Sparks in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 07.06.14. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!