Light Pollution
Light pollution isn’t just an annoyance, it can have a host of negative effects that are often overlooked.
The Effects of Light Pollution
Seeing Stars
Light pollution affects our ability to see stars in the night sky. In many cities it is impossible to see the majority of stars, including most of the milky way. This makes it hard for astronomers of all kinds to do any kind of work in or a near a city. This is one of the reasons astronomers are forced to work high on mountains and in the middle of deserts.
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Effects on Wildlife
Light pollution actually has an effect on wildlife.
*Searchlights and flares on oil platforms can “capture” birds. They keep circling the light source until they run out of energy and fall.
- Insects cluster around light sources at night and bats are now used to following them for easy food. This has had adverse effects on other bat populations that are unable to do this as effectively.
*Many types of nocturnal prey now find less food because they must forge more cautiously because they are no longer protected much by what’s left of the dark.
*Artificial light has been proven to effect bird eating and migration habits, causing them to migrate early and arrive to adverse conditions.
*Sea turtles search for beaches with little light to lay their eggs and go to the same beech or generations. The light pollution may confuse them and they often end up on roads. - Frogs have been shown to inhibit mating calls at night when there is too much light, leading to lower reproductivity.
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Light pollution doesn’t just mess with wildlife, it also has a negative impact on us.
It can effect the circadian clock, leading to all kinds of biological and psychological effects, including:
*Hormone production
*Cell production
*Higher likelihood of depression
*Higher likelihood of insomnia
*Increased risk for cardiovascular disease
*Increased risk for some forms of cancer
- It has changed our sleep schedule. (From two four hour blocks to a solid block)
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Cost of Light Pollution
Light takes electricity to produce. Most of this electricity comes from coal. This means it both has a cost in money and in environmental impact. The light that is wasted is the problem. As much as 35% of all light produced is wasted due to unshielded light sources allowing it to go into the sky. This amounts to about 0.5 kilowatt hours per household per night. This wastes about 3 billion dollars a year total (in the US).This amount of power leads to 15 million tons of CO2 to be released every year.[5]
How You can Help
Shielded lighting is one simple change with a major effect. It will reflect back the light that would go into the sky. The reflected light would make the light source seem brighter. That means it is possible to use lower energy light sources and have the same effect.
Another way to help with light pollution is to turn your outside lights off at night. Many people keep these lights on to deter crime. There is actually very little evidence this works, in fact you are more likely to get robbed in a brightly lit alley than a dim one. This is because lights make the target easier to see. [6]
Thanks for sharing this article - very important (and neglected) topic!
Excellent post. Once I wrote about the fact that we lost the stars. We are really need to try use less light.
I hate light pollusion, but at least I saw the milky way on vacations. I always mock a friend of mine who has never seen it. :D
At least they switch off half the lights after ~23:00
Awesome article. Thank you very much @anarchyhasnogods. Resteemed.
Nice post! Another way to help is by replacing bluish with reddish lights, especially in low energy demand areas, as short wavelength light (blue) scatters much more through the atmosphere and creates light pollution (even when shielded).
yeah and lower wavelengths also take less energy to produce. I don't know how well that translates though
Good post. I've always wanted to go to one of the specified dark sky sites and see the stars from there. Living where I do, it's just not possible to escape light pollution so I would have to travel to get away from it. I have been in the country side and seen good stars, but I have never been to one of those designated spots that are truly removed from exteraneous light.
Nice job with this post.
Research has been there for 6-7 years on the blue spectrum but the DOE has doted on its generous contributors like GE and rebuffed the arguments. The real research is just getting started and it is not pretty. I'm not a global warming believer but the blue light hazard is very real and the damage it has done to the ecosystem is incredibly destructive and worse, cyclical. It is very easy to prove to the naysayers. The only visible energy that is completely artificial at night is blue - even the full moon has very little blue. When the first electric street lights were introduced there was only trace amounts of blue because the technology to create it was not there at the time. With the adoption of HID lighting, the problem grew by an order of magnitude but the introduction of the LED street light and the rush to adoption because of stimulus funds will exponentially worse.
Great Job
Add it to the extremely long list of human pollutants that every other species on this planet have to deal with, so we humans can be comfortable.
Great article. Look into the spectral content of the source. Poorly designed lighting is bad, but sources high in the blue spectrum are the real issue.
Yeah, blue light isn't the best at night for us I've read too