Light pollution.
Have you ever heard of light pollution? No, yes, maybe? Probably not but you really should know. So what is light pollution? Light pollution is brightening of the night sky caused by streetlights and other man-made sources, which has a disruptive effect on natural cycles and inhibits the observation of stars and planets.
We live in the world that is revolved around artificial light. We are afraid of the darkness. If you look up in the sky at night you can barley see anything but a few stars because of light pollution. Our skies are getting darker and darker and we don’t know this because of all the artificial light we use. We are losing natural light! We are so used to seeing stars at night but we are getting closer to not being able to see any in the near future. Children around the globe already will never get to experience the Milky Way. Don’t you want your generations to come to see stars and be able to see things in the sky? This is a very serious environmental issue that should be a serious concern to humans. Light pollution affects the increase of energy, wildlife, our environment, and health.
Light pollution is a waste of energy and money. On average in the US humans waste about 30% of energy on outside lighting in the night time.. what!! That’s about 3 billion dollars we could’ve saved in the U.S. WHAT. Even in the day time we turn on our are lights or forget to turn them off.. Imagine all the energy we are wasting day to day. Think of all the parking lots, streets, and buildings that stay lit at night across the world: that's tons of energy is being wasted.
Light pollution is destroying wildlife. Plants and animals depend on Earth's daily cycle of lightness and darkness each day to help circulate their cycle of life. It controls their behaviors, protection, and nourishment. It disrupts all those things in their ecosystems. With artificial light they often are confused with night and day. For an example is, so many insects are drawn to light an artificial light that causes fatal attraction to the insect population and that negatively impacts all species that rely on insects for pollination or food which affects food webs.
Light pollution harms human’s health. Humans need to have natural light days and dark nights. The artificial light is making us not truly experience naturally dark nights. The blue light in artificial light that we are exposed to outdoor lighting, computer screens, and TV’s are very harmful.
How can we decrease light pollution? It’s the little things we can do that will make a difference. We can reserve light energy and save money by only use warm white LEDS and CFLS because it can help reduce energy and protect the environment! We can also reduce energy by even getting light dimmers and timers to reduce how much light we use day and night. We can simply just turn off your house lights in the night. Instead of leaving buildings lit at night we could try keeping it dark at night or even just use half the light or non at all. This can Save US money! We can preserve wildlife by doing the same thing by not using so much artificial light at night. We can protect our health by choosing the right light bulbs. You need to pick bulbs that are lower in temperature instead of higher they are less harmful.
I hope this article makes you realize that we should everything we can to help protect our world from light pollution. Light pollution is impairing our view of the universe. How I look at is it is our duty of humans in the world to help protect the cycle of life. Light pollution is disrupting the cycle of life. I believe if people are more aware of this issue we can make a difference. We will never be able to stop using artificial light but we can change how we use it and when we use it. Save the environment and do everything you can to decrease light pollution. I hope I never see a sky without stars at night.
