What is Light Pollution?

When the word “pollution” is uttered, it brings about visions of litter on highways, green or littered waterways, or even clouds of noxious smoke billowing into the air. Does light enter your thoughts when discussing pollution?

Light pollution is a far more prevalent problem than in past decades. “Light pollution is inappropriate artificial light.” There are four components of light pollution: 

• “Urban Sky Glow – The brightening of the night sky over urban areas
• Light Trespass – Light falling where it is not intended, wanted, or needed
• Glare – Excessive brightness, which causes visual discomfort. High levels of glare can cause decreased visibility.
• Clutter – Bright, confusing, and excessive groupings of light sources, commonly found in over-lit urban areas. The proliferation of clutter contributes to urban sky glow, trespass, and glare.” 

What does that mean for us? Yard lights, street lights, motion detector lights, yard & garden lights, and car head lights all contribute to light pollution.

For centuries our night sky consisted of stars, planets, constellations, and solar systems visible to the naked eye. Recently, however, light pollution has made an impact on everyone looking up into the night sky hoping to catch a glimpse of a constellation or shooting star.

As a business owner or resident living in a specific community, how does this affect us? Very simple. The effect that light pollution has on us is subtle, but relevant. Our ability to see the night sky is decreased, along with the enjoyment of being able to discern even hard-to-find constellations.

As the area around us gets brighter, even with artificial light, the stars and planets become less visible. Even artificial light disrupts the Earth’s ecosystem. “light pollution poses a serious threat in particular to nocturnal wildlife, having negative impacts on plant and animal physiology.”

Light pollution could even have an adverse effect on humans. Anyone on 3rd shift can attest to the face that it is extremely difficult to sleep during the day.

By design, our bodies are equipped with a type of internal body clock called a circadian rhythm. This tells our bodies that when it’s dark we sleep and when it’s light we wake up. The sleeping and waking cycles are signaled by the increased or decreased production of melatonin, a hormone secreted by the body to aid in sleep.

Lack of good quality sleep and sleep disorders due to increased light pollution are becoming more prevalent.

It is estimated that, “3 out of every 4 people in cities have never experienced the wonderment of pristinely dark skies. So if most of us have never experienced the vastness of stars in the unpolluted night sky, how can we ask people to understand its importance and defend its challenges?

The answers to light pollution are many and the drawbacks few; turn off lights you are not using, use artificial light sparingly, stay home during late evening and night time hours when possible, and turn off outside lights when possible.

For more information on waste and pollution visit www.wasteawaygroup.com.

globeatnight.org
Wikipedia.org
lightpollutionmap.info
ngm.nationalgeographic.com
darkskiesawareness.org