Bring Back The Light is a firefly conservation project based in Bali, they work with local farmers to prevent firefly extinction and degradation of the environment.

I visited their laboratory and firefly nurseries in Tegallalang and I was greeted by the founder of the project who showed me around,

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Below is the transcript of my interview with the founder, Wayan Wardika:

1. What made you realize that fireflies going extinct was an issue?

“Because when I was little, when I was your age, I saw clouds of fireflies and they were everywhere. And then 40 years later, I didn’t see as many. And that’s when I started to realize that their population is decreasing.”

2  What is the most challenging part of your job?

“First of all, I’m not a biologist. I work in hospitality. So my background is actually hospitality. So I don’t have research or scientific background. And then number two, there is not much research about fireflies in Indonesia, that I know of. And then.. number three, as soon as we started learning about the fireflies, there were so many challenges for fireflies to live. That is very much linked to the environment. So I think to answer your question it’s the pressing environment that makes it very hard for the fireflies to survive.”

3 What would success look like for your organization?

“As we try to conserve the fireflies populations,  what we’d like to achieve is the  significant rise of the population and to provide a thriving environment for them to live. So to make that happen, we must not just promote the growth of their population, but we also must promote the quality of the environment for them to grow. So how I see the success of our work is the increase of the firefly population where we set up an environment without artificial light at night, no chemicals being used and very sustainable natural resources management.”

4 Have you noticed any meaningful changes in the ecosystems around you since the start of the organization?

“Yes, very much. Like you see now there are lots more dragonflies, more butterflies. I didn’t see this much. If we look in the evening also, If we come here, there are more sounds, not just the frogs, the crickets, the nocturnal creatures. Within a short period of time, we already see quite a good impact in biodiversity. I see a lot of dragonflies. So what does it mean? It’s an improvement in the quality of the ecosystem, not just for the fireflies, but biodiversity in general.”

5. What can other people do to support your organization?

“I think by raising awareness that we don’t live alone in this world. There are lots of vulnerable creatures like the fireflies, for example, that are nocturnal so they need  an ecosystem where there is no artificial light at night. So I think the easiest way is be mindful using lights. And then secondly, be careful using the chemical because you never know what you’re spraying into the nature. Even though you don’t kill them directly, it can harm their environment, which degrades their ecosystem making it so they cannot survive. And then I think we should be more connected with nature so hopefully we are more sensitive to the fact that we don’t live alone in the world.”