The Problem We Don’t See: Light Pollution
This article was written by Anh Vo.
When people think of the different types of threats to climate change, they usually picture smog, oily shores, and overflowing landfills. Yet one of the most dangerous threats to our environment doesn’t look like what we think of as harmful pollution. It's light pollution. It can take the forms of the flow that shines into our nights from cities, stadiums, and parking lots. The statistics are astonishing. More than 80% of the global population lives under skies where the natural darkness of the night is lost to these types of lighting, and in the U.S. and Europe, this number surpasses 99%.
It's not just the loss of the stars that matters. The Dark Sky Association estimates that at least 30% of all of our outdoor lighting in the U.S. is wasted light. This is the light that points upward, spills into the sky, or stays on when it is not needed. The waste costs us around 3.3 billion dollars annually, resulting in about 21 million tons of CO2 each year.
This heavily impacts our ecosystems. Night-active animals such as bats, moths, birds, and sea turtles rely on the night's darkness for navigation. Human health suffers as well. Bright lighting at late can disrupt circadian rhythms caused by increased stress, disrupted sleep cycles, and reduced connection to the natural world. A recent study found that nightitme is becoming about 10% bridger every year. This means that fewer stars are visible and more unnatural light is wasted around us.
However, every issue comes with solutions, and these solutions may be simpler than you think. Schools and students can take small steps to turn off lights in empty rooms, install motion sensors, or use shielded lighting so that the glow goes down. When a campus commits to dark sky-friendly designs, it becomes a calm place and enhances nature's natural beauty. It is important to understand that rather than waste light and energy, we can save it to reconnect with what nature and the natural world have to provide for us. The stars, moon, and darkness.
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/january/increasing-light-pollution-drowning-out-stars.html?utm
https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.01041?utm
https://darksky.org/resources/what-is-light-pollution/effects/energy-climate/?utm