Block the Night Sky
It’s common knowledge that air pollution prevents us from seeing many of the stars in the sky. However, if we continue to pollute our skies at this rate, we may have little to no access to the visuals in the night sky again.
A century ago, you could walk out into the street at virtually any place in the world and see the stars above your head. Whether you were trying to map out constellations or look for the north star, you could always see at least something in the sky. Nowadays, however, it’s as if you could go outside and you’d be lucky to see four or five stars at all. This is due to an effect known as light pollution.
Light pollution is excessive, misdirected, or artificial light that illuminates in our atmosphere. This light can pile up and continuously make the planet brighter and brighter. Light pollution can have a wide variety of effects on humans. It can range from altering our sleep schedule to unbalancing our melatonin levels. However, light pollution also has the capability to completely throw off our circadian rhythm. In fact, in very severe cases, light pollution can endanger species due to their circadian rhythm losing effectiveness. The circadian rhythm is the natural process by which many organisms regulate their sleep and sleep cycles. Many animals need to sleep at specific times or sleep in waves in order to properly defend themselves against predators and to be alert. However, if the sky is unnaturally bright, many species may get their circadian rhythm thrown off and may be more susceptible to predators since they’re functioning on a less effective sleep cycle.
There are four main types of light pollution. They are glare, light trespass, clutter and skyglow. Glare is excessive and unnecessary brightness, which can cause visual discomfort to the naked eye. Light trespass is the process by which light enters through creases and manages to get to locations in which it wasn’t initially intended to get to. Clutter is the process by which many different types of bright lights get pooled together in excess. Skyglow is the artificial brightening of the night sky under inhabited areas. It’s what prevents us from seeing the stars due to the fact that the lighting is overpowering the natural darkness in which the stars illuminate in.
Studies have shown that nearly 35% of light emitted in America is wasted due to unshielded or poorly aimed light. It’s shameful how meaningless this waste of light is, especially since many people don’t consider the environmental implications that emitting this much light can do. According to national geographic, more than 80% of the world population live under skyglow. Even worse, it’s estimated that specifically in the United States and Europe, approximately 99% of the population can no longer properly view the night sky. To put that into perspective, over 95% of the stars in the sky have been rendered virtually invisible by the majority of people in the world.
There are a multitude of ways to lessen light pollution. There are many organizations, such as the International Dark Sky Association, that work with government officials in order to enact light pollution legislation. It’s also recommended that we, as a community of people who value our night sky, try to cut down on using electric lights as much as we can. For example, we could substitute many kinds of light bulbs for glow stones which emit less light that get into the atmosphere. Furthermore, something as simple as taking off the lights when we’re not using them can go a far way in improving light pollution. Because, at the end of the day, however convenient it may seem now, using lights in excess can deprive our future generations from seeing the constellations and stars that have been so visible for all of history. We shouldn’t let our selfishness block the night sky.
