With the Bundaberg Region renowned for the turtles that call it home the annual Turtle Hour event is an opportunity for residents to think about how they can reduce lighting impacts.
The event is set to once again be held as part of the upcoming Milbi Festival to promote reducing urban glow.
As a project in itself, the community is encouraged to see what they can do to help reduce urban glow on an ongoing basis, with Turtle Hour a good opportunity to start the conversation.
Bundaberg Region Mayor Jack Dempsey said Turtle Hour provided an opportunity for everyone to play a part in protecting the local environment.
“Our beautiful coastline is world renowned as a turtle nesting site and Mon Repos is an important natural area that we’re very proud of and keen to preserve,” he said.
“As residents of the region, we should be playing our part in reducing urban glow day in, day out, with turtle hour a perfect opportunity to start doing that.”
Anyone interested in being part of the annual event can easily get involved by simply turning off their lights from 7 – 8 pm on 31 October.
This event is hosted in support of Bundaberg Regional Council’s Reducing Urban Glow initiative.
Register for the event here.
To find out more about the ecological significance of turtles nesting in our region and how you can track light glow in our region here.
Turtle hour details:
Date: Monday 31 October
Time: 7 – 8 pm
Location: Your house or business
Cost: Free
About Urban Glow
Reducing Urban Glow is important as scientific evidence indicates that artificial light sources have a negative impact on adult turtle nesting site selection and hatchling ocean finding behaviour by preventing turtles from navigating to and from the ocean.
The Bundaberg coastline hosts the largest concentration of nesting marine turtles on the east coast of Australia and is home to 50 per cent of endangered Loggerhead turtle breeding activity in the South Pacific Ocean.
