CLIP: Nadine Baalbaki, Founder of Light the Detail | Stories of Hope Amidst Light Deprivation

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What does it mean to live in the shadow of war, yearning for light in times of darkness? Join us as Nadine Balbaaki, founder of Light the Detail, paints a vivid picture of her childhood in Lebanon amidst conflict, where the absence of reliable light sources was both a literal and metaphorical struggle. Nadine's poignant storytelling transports us to her family's home, where makeshift lighting from candles and generators not only illuminated their nights but also underscored their fears and insecurities. Her deeply personal narrative reveals how these early experiences shaped her passion for advocating dark skies today, highlighting the stark contrast between her past and her current life in a country abundant with light.

In this compelling episode of the Virtual Lighting Design Community Podcast, we discuss the far-reaching impacts of light scarcity on communities, both from a health and environmental perspective. Nadine shares how the emotional and psychological toll of unstable electricity fueled her commitment to manage light pollution and promote well-being. We explore her journey from Beirut to Dubai, and how her advocacy for dark skies is driven by a profound understanding of what it means to live without stable light. Prepare to be moved by Nadine's resilience and inspired by her mission to educate others on the transformative power of responsible lighting.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
To entertain ourselves.
My brother and I sometimeswould sneak next to the window
to watch the dark sky and startcounting the stars, but since it
was too dangerous to standbehind the glass when bombings
are happening, my mom would tellus that for every star you
count, a pimple will form onyour hand that will never go
away, we moved away from thewindow and we stopped counting

(00:23):
the stars.
Till today, I never count thestars.
Twelve years ago, while I wasliving in Lebanon, I would never
thought to advocate for darkskies.
I was too busy searching forlight.
Today, because I live in astate of lighting abundance, I
can talk about light pollution.
And today, because I live in asafe country, I can talk about

(00:44):
the beauty of a dark sky.
And because I can find my wayat night, I can express my
desire to see the Milky Way.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Welcome back to the Virtual Lighting Design
Community Podcast, a globalplatform that empowers, inspires
, educates and connects thelighting design community.
This podcast is brought to youby our premium supporters Aero
Hospitality Lighting, creativeLighting Asia, erco, the Signify
Lighting Academy and PhilixLighting From darkness to light

(01:14):
the impact of light scarcity oncommunities.
Join us on this episode as wedelve into a thought-provoking
presentation by Nadine Balbaki,founder of Light the Detail.
Based in Dubai and Beirut,nadine has over 20 years of

(01:38):
experience as a lightingdesigner.
Thank you where Nadine engageswith Amardeep Dugar, co-founder
of the Virtual Lighting DesignCommunity and principal of
lighting research and design inIndia.
To watch the full presentationand gain access to more
exclusive content, considerbecoming a VLD Pro member and
support our mission to providequality insights for the
lighting fraternity.
Visit vldcommunity to learnmore and be a part of this

(02:01):
premier lighting community.
Watch the visual version on ourYouTube channel and explore a
multitude of interviews andpresentations like this one.
Now let's give the floor toNadine Balbaki.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Enjoy 11 years ago, my husband and I took the
decision to leave our country,lebanon, our home and our family

(02:32):
.
The move was not driven by jobopportunities, but actually to
provide our family with a stablelife, a life that we never had,
knowing, of course, the impactof light pollution on the human
health and our well-being andthe natural environment.
But a deep, heavy feelingaroused in me, and this heavy

(02:57):
feeling soon evolved intodiscomfort, anxiety and fear, a
feeling that I had toinvestigate and I could only
understand when I revisited mypast.
During war times, dark skieswere associated with fear, with
the heavy sounds of artilleryand with screams.

(03:17):
To entertain ourselves, mybrother and I sometimes would
sneak next to the window towatch the dark sky and start
counting the stars, but since itwas too dangerous to stand
behind the glass when bombingsare happening, my mom would tell
us that for every star youcount, a pimple will form on
your hand that will never goaway.

(03:39):
I honestly don't know if sheinvented it or it was a
collective Lebanese mom myth,but it worked.
We moved away from the windowand we stopped counting the
stars.
Till today, I never count thestars.
Dark skies brought a huge senseof insecurity.
People started looking foralternative lighting sources to

(04:03):
light their spaces.
Candle and kerosene lamps werewidely available.
The warm light of the candle,though, never communicated
relaxation, but totally theopposite it communicated fear,
anger, frustration anddeprivation.
We then upgraded to installbattery-connected batteries, to

(04:25):
which we connected fluorescenttubes.
Our night turned from warm tobluish, flickering white
Generators.
Small generators were then madeavailable.
Life was almost normal in ourhome, except that now, almost in
each home, almost on eachbalcony, a noisy machine that

(04:49):
produces toxic fumes set aside.
A stack of fuel gallons wasvibrating.
Who cares if it was a tickingbomb?
We can study shower.
We can simply see.
Large generators with monthlysubscriptions compensated the
government supply of electricity.

(05:10):
The lord of the generators nowruled the game.
The result is catastrophic onthe environment and had
significant impacts on people'shealth, possibly killing
thousands each year in Lebanon,according to Greenpeace.
Our skies were still dark, butwe never looked.

(05:31):
Those scenes were not takingplace in a rural, disconnected
town.
In a rural, disconnected town.
Those scenes were actuallyhappening in the heart of the
capital, beirut, in one of themain streets, on the ninth floor
of a very modern residentialbuilding.
Light, over time, became asymbol of wealth that families

(05:51):
were able to afford electricityfrom private generators.
The more your house was lit,the more amps you could afford.
My first memory of a happy darksky was at the age of 14 or 15.
The long war was over then andunsustainable solutions were
made available to enjoyelectricity whenever we wanted
and whenever we needed.

(06:12):
It was my first time that Ilook at the sky and with my
cousin and literally enjoy thescene of the dark skies and the
scene of the dark skies and thestars.
It is now that I realized thatenjoying the dark skies was
really two main factors lightingabundance and availability, and

(06:32):
safety and security.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Hi Ladeen, this is a fantastic presentation.
I am really amazed at acompletely different perspective
about this whole concept ofdark skies, light pollution,
more so because I recentlypublished a paper on whole
concept of dark skies andbiodynamic lighting where I was

(07:08):
talking about life centriclighting, where how light
pollution is affecting differenttypes of light forms.
And I see another presentationwhere you see that whole concept
about chicken farming, wherethere was more light given to
chicken so it was used as abusiness model and this has
completely altered myperspective.

(07:30):
And the second uh thing was Ijust recently visited lebanon
and beautiful country, beautifuland I would have never thought
about dark skies from thisperspective, especially with the
whole concept of safety andsecurity when there's a war-torn

(07:50):
country.
It's a lot to take in at thispoint of time and I think dark
sky advocates need to reallystart looking at it from
perspectives of different people, different areas, because
darkness means so much more tosome people.
So thank you for thisperspective.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
Thank you.
Thank you.
I really appreciate and thankyou for the feedback coming from
you because on a personal level, your opinion matters a lot.
There are insecurities thatcome with darkness that only

(08:31):
people that relate to the samesometimes life conditions can
relate to.
I'm not against dark skies andI'm not, on the other hand, I
really like and I enjoy, butthis comes after a series of
things procured.
It's not only lightingdesigners' work, it's a whole

(08:54):
chain of collaboration, as Isaid, between government
entities, between lightingdesigners, because darkness is
beautiful when it is accompaniedwith safety and security, but
when there is fear inside of it,it doesn't speak.

(09:15):
It doesn't talk and doesn'trelate.
The same way, and when you livein a deprived society, we don't
take lighting for granted, soit kind of brings no-transcript.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
So very true, and I completely agree on this front,
because we tend to be soparochial in our approach and we
look at it from a veryblindsided view.
It's so important to look at aworldview, look at it from view,
looking from differentdirections, different dimensions
of the whole concept, and thispresentation really speaks to

(10:17):
you in terms of what darkness is, and if you really are
advocating for dark skies, youbetter advocate it in the right
manner.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
looking at all the way, all the Because today, even
me as a lighting designer 20years, my perception of how I
designed the light changed a lotbetween when I was living in
Lebanon and when I moved andlived in Dubai.
Because now the parameters havechanged.

(10:45):
The brief that comes fromclients living in Lebanon is
totally different from thedesign brief that comes from
people that live in lightingabundance, and I could see that
there is a discrepancy somehow,and the discrepancy does not

(11:07):
only come from the education,but it comes also from certain
fears, traumas, and so on.

Speaker 3 (11:18):
Thank you, yeah, I completely agree, and that's why
this whole platform was createdas a mode of virtually
connecting people, connectingactivists, connecting lighting
designers, connecting decisionmakers has to come together and
actually discuss these keyaspects.
Because it's not so I'm gladpeople are discussing about

(11:39):
these concepts and ideas, butthe whole intent of discussing
it in the right manner,connecting all the peoples
together, connecting all thedots and coming up with some
solutions.
It's the whole idea of thisplatform.
For those of you who know me,hello, good to see you again.
For those of you who are seeingit for the first time, this is
Amaldeep Dugar.

(11:59):
I'm one of the founders of theVirtual Lighting Design
Community platform.
Sorry to interject here intothis presentation, but it's been
great.
Nadine is a dear friend and I'mglad to be a part of this whole
discussion and presentation.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Amartya.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
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