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A recent report highlighted the tremendous drop in wild bird numbers since 1970, with 3 billion fewer birds flying in the U.S. now than 50 years ago.

Reasons include depredation by cats (the presence of which in the environment should have been stopped decades ago by regulation) and collisions with windows (a much more difficult situation to address). And, of course, habitat loss leads the list.

But another important reason for this drastic reduction in bird populations is the huge loss of insects they feed upon, undoubtedly thanks in part to ubiquitous artificial lighting. Such lighting attracts insects and keeps them from procreating as they circle fixtures endlessly.

Lights burn all night upon house facades, around barns and sheds, and at closed businesses and churches — all of which could use motion-detector lighting instead. Flag poles have become omnipresent, with far too many of them illuminated all night.

Despite popular belief, there is no law that says a flag must be lit at night (although the U.S. Flag Code says it should be). The Flag Code is simply “a codification of customs and rules…,” and “no penalty or punishment is specified in the Flag Code for display of the flag of the United States in a manner other than as suggested.”