Due to the increasing use of artificial light, massive light pollution has affected the survival number of butterflies.
In recent years, urbanization has gradually worsened the problem of light pollution. They are pollution caused by excessive use of artificial lights, which will disrupt some animals’ migration direction. Monarch Butterfly, the protagonist of this theme, needs to migrate every year and will judge the migration route according to the direction of the sun. However, artificial light lines disturb them, so that they cannot reach the warm areas in time and freeze to death on the way.
My work is divided into three parts: display board, kit, and game design.
The map is full of the cities’ names in America and Mexico, these cities are where butterflies migrate. There are many light bulbs on the map, and four butterflies made of fluorescent ropes hang on the light bulbs. Whenever participants see the questions next to the map, for example, “If you see large advertising lamps on a downtown street, wrap the string around the little bulbs twice.” People can follow the instructions to complete the interaction.
When the butterflies’ ropes are used up, it represents the end of this activity.
The upper layer of the kit is used to place the materials of this work. The lower layer can see the light spots on the map through the strong light of the lightbox, which represents the light-polluted area.
The purpose of the game design is to help the butterfly avoid the light and reach its destination within the specified time. As the difficulty increases, the light in the game will also increase. I want to express that the increase in light pollution also increases the difficulty of butterfly survival.
I hope this work can let people understand the dilemma of butterflies and reduce the use of unnecessary artificial lights. As a character that has a great impact on the earth, we should try our best to protect other weak lives in the community with us.