By Laura Hunt Miller
PART 3: Let There be Peace
After reading part one and two of this article, you may be thinking; ok, maybe sound and light pollution affect me, but how do communities address these issues?
Often the best place to begin is with collecting data. Whether you’re trying to update city lighting, establish new noise ordinances, or design friendlier residential areas, a local audit gives you a foundation to make a case.
Louisiana has some built-in funding avenues that can support this kind of work:
Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grants (EECBG) from the Louisiana Department of Energy & Natural Resources: The program supports planning for energy upgrades, conducting audits, installing renewables, and more. With awards ranging from $100,000–$200,000, it’s an ideal opportunity to guide future ordinances and civic improvements.
The Louisiana Public Entities Energy Efficiency Program from the Louisiana Public Service Commission: Since 2017, this program has awarded over $80 million to schools, parks, and local governments, largely for lighting upgrades. The program focuses on infrastructure improvements, so it’s a great resource to look to after studies are done.
Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development Highway Noise Policy: While not a grant in itself, the Louisiana DOTD maintains a formal Noise Policy, 23 CFR Part 772, that states any major federally‑assisted road project must evaluate noise impacts and consider abatement if thresholds are exceeded. The policy serves as a good roadmap and a lever when applying for funding or advocating for buffers.
Programs like the EPA’s Community Change Grants provide funding to address environmental justice concerns, including noise pollution. Projects could include purchasing affordable sound meters, hiring acoustic consultants, or partnering with local colleges for student-led studies and solutions.
Even without formal funding, studies can begin simply: a weekend community event, volunteer recordings, or crowd-sourced sound and light logs.
Once studies are complete, the next step is to identify what methods of mitigation are best for our area, and where to begin implementing them.
The following are the most common means of sound and light pollution mitigation:
SOUND
1. Noise Barriers: Walls or earth berms built along highways, railways, or industrial zones can reduce noise levels by 5–10 decibels or more.
2. Zoning and Buffer Zones: Separating residential areas from noisy uses (like airports or heavy industry) Buffers like greenbelts, open space, or commercial zones between noise sources and homes.
3. Quieter Road Surfaces: Porous asphalt and rubber-modified pavement can reduce tire noise. Maintenance also matters, worn or grooved pavement increases noise.
4. Speed Limit Reductions: Especially in urban corridors, lower speeds reduce engine, tire, and aerodynamic noise. A cheap fix, minus a few speeding tickets.
5. Enforcement of Vehicle and Equipment Noise Standards: Limit over-loud mufflers, construction equipment hours, and the like.
6. Urban Tree Canopy and Vegetation: Trees alone don’t block significant noise, but layered vegetation can provide relief.
LIGHT
1. Full-Cutoff or Shielded Fixtures: Outdoor lights that direct light downward, not outward or upward.
2. Warm-Temperature LED Lighting: We covered this one.
3. Dimming and Adaptive Lighting: Time-based dimming after midnight in low-traffic zones.
4. Light Curfews: Regulates how long signs, building lights, or decorative lights can stay on overnight, especially in business districts.
5. Zoning Codes and Lighting Ordinances: Specific requirements for light trespass, lumens per acre, or brightness limits by zone type.
6. Public Awareness Campaigns: Education around “light responsibly” or “quiet zones” can encourage community investment and improvements.
Cities often reexamine their sound and light ordinances first. Some cities even create zones for lighting and sound protections. For example, areas where lights are dimmed at sunset, or have motion sensors. Or zones where raised land berms must border heavily-used roads to protect surrounding residential use.
Ordinances often lack the level of detail needed to give people a legal process by which to respectfully request protections from noise or light pollution in their backyards, so the process of enforcing ordinances should be clearly outlined and available to the public as well.
Other ideas include positive over negative reinforcement, like awarding or celebrating businesses and citizens for improving lighting and sound mitigation.
Whatever a town does, meaningful change requires both civic and individual action. While earth berms may reduce noise for nearby homes, neighbors can choose quieter tools, or not to engage in loud noises before 8am or after 6pm. Small business owners can choose to turn down or turn off a flashing sign that shines into residential neighbors’ windows, or install lights that shine down, without an ordinance telling them to.
We are all going to be a little noisy or bright sometimes, why Christmas is the perfect example with the great lights and busy roads this time of year. The goal of sound and light pollution mitigation isn’t to plunge cities into mute darkness, but to improve its quality of life, foster respect for neighbors, and care for the environment we share. A great way to make room for a little peace, and goodwill towards all.
