Light Pollution
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We have knowledge of so many forms of pollution but what do we know about light pollution?
The wake sleep cycle in man and other animals is tied into the natural light dark cycle
of earth. Health studies have suggested that in addition to disturbing sleep the excess
night lighting may contribute to headaches, hypertension and even breast cancer
where the action maybe related to hormone melatonin. The night sky in urban areas
is so polluted with stray light sources that one now has trouble even seeing the
stars at night. It is estimated that if all the unnecessary lighting form businesses
and homes were turned off then we would save 2 million barrels of oil daily or 4%
of our nations daily energy usage. Light trespass is when stray light enters into
your property for example shining in your bedroom at night. A number of cities
in the US have developed standards for outdoor lighting to protect the rights
of citizens. It turns out that by limiting the upward angle of the light to
80 degrees it can significantly reduce light trespass and also reduce skyglow.
The use of timers on buildings and thermal sensors can greatly reduce the
pollution and the energy usage. Indoor lighting can also be a problem especially with
fluorescent lights which have an unnatural light spectrum. This has been associated
with headaches, worker fatigue, anxiety and sexual dysfunction.
While still saving energy replacement with newer
frosted fluorescent bulbs can mostly avoid these problems. Light pollution has
also been shown to disrupt the ecosystem. It can cause confusion in animal
navigation and for example cause algae blooms within a lake, which disrupts
the natural lake plants. Migrating birds can be disoriented in flight and frogs
and salamander are also adversely affected by the excess light.
So it is time for us to consider the night-lights, which on the one hand are
important to prevent falls and crime, but can be overdone or inappropriately
placed leading to the problems mentioned above.
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