You may think that light pollution isn't something extraordinarily important. You may believe that every other type of pollution has a larger impact on the environment than light pollution does. You may not even have heard of it before. It may not be polluting our lakes, our air or the Earth's living creatures, but light pollution is serious, and it needs to be addressed by everyone.
Light pollution, or “sky glow”, is the glow you can see at night above cities and towns. From our perspective, it may not be a matter of life and death, but now the number of stars you can see in a rural area is amazing young children from large cities. That's obviously not a good thing.
The main causes of light pollution are the street lamps and security lights found in suburban areas, and lit signs and lit commercial buildings in urban areas. Most of the lights from these are wasted and go straight up into the sky. As we all know, the sky doesn't need to be lit up at night.
The components of light pollution are Glare, Light trespass, Uplight, and Too much light, or the acronym, GLUT. We all know what glare is: light that shines into your eyes during the day so that you can't see. Glare can be in your eyes at night, too, which can be very negative when you consider the effects that will be discussed below. Light trespass is light where you don't want it, like in your bedroom window when you're trying to sleep. It gets annoying after a while, doesn't it? Uplight is simply light that is supposed to be lighting roads and pathways, but goes straight up into the sky. Too Much Light means that there is just too much light, of course! “More is Better” is a bad theory.
A small example of light pollution's impact on the environment is the mortality of newly-hatched turtles. Because their necks aren't yet long enough to see things far away, baby turtles rely on the mirror image of the moon to guide them to the sea, to begin their new life. A car hit this particular turtle, which was thinking the light from a nearby city was moonlight reflecting off the ocean waves. Birds that live in and around cities can die because of sky glow, too. The abundance of bright lights can blind them, leading to countless collisions with buildings, billboards and other tall structures.
If the environment doesn't concern you, perhaps your safety as home does; many people have security lights to prevent criminal activity, but, in reality, the contrast between the dark shadows and bright driveway make it difficult to see things that are just outside the light. So you could have a lit up car, but someone could be sitting, invisible, in your hedges.
These are merely a few of the possible negative effects light pollution has on our world. A very serious issue in our modern-day society is that light pollution is a terrible waste of energy. Lighting the sky is not a priority for our cities, and yet thousands of streetlamps are improperly shielded, and allow light to escape upwards. By simply using effective streetlamps, we could lower the bulb wattage in public areas and save millions of dollars. Problems concerning other “overlit” areas, such as factories, gas stations, business towers and baseball diamonds, can be solved simply by turning off the lights when they're not needed.
Light pollution is the easiest type of pollution to end. It only requires a lot of cooperation. One way to do this is to inform the municipal government of the problem. Tell them that low-pressure sodium bulbs reduce glare and save money. Also, although they have a high price, fully cut-off lighting fixtures have a very low operating cost. Tucson, Arizona, and San Diego, California are two cities that realize how much light pollution affects the environment. They are two North American cities that have strict rules about their lighting.
Individuals can help stop light pollution, too. Just turning off lights when you are not in the room and using proper shielding outside can reduce sky glow. Using light timers and occupancy sensors help a lot.
But the best way to help stop light pollution is to let others know about it. With more people helping to stop it, we have a much better chance of reducing light pollution and putting an end to the decades of invisible stars in the night sky.
