Home ›

Light obscures our largest natural resource: the night sky

by Bryce Wolfe on August 29, 2010
in

Light obscures our largest natural resource: the night skyThe word "pollution" usually evokes images of clogged rivers, smoggy skies and toxic metals leeching through the soil. Many sources of pollution today are invisible to the eye and impossible to detect without special equipment, as people have become increasingly conscious of the environment and less tolerant of harmful practices. Yet one of the most visible forms of pollution is often overlooked.

Light is everywhere. Even at night, except in the most remote areas, lights race along highways and pour out of parking lots. Without headlights, cars would crash on dark roads. Without lamps, businesses would close their doors at sunset. However, those same bright beams can blind other drivers and cause accidents. And some are questioning the health of being exposed to artificial lighting on a regular basis. Past research has shown that people who have jobs that expose them to light at night experience a higher risk of breast cancer.

Members of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) believe that the nighttime environment is a resource that must be preserved and protected like any other natural resource. Excessive light, they say, has adverse effects on both the environment and human health. It wastes energy and causes water and air pollution due to the generation of electricity. Using statistics from the Department of Energy, IDA estimates that the United States loses $10.4 billion a year on wasteful lighting. It also harms nocturnal wildlife and ecosystems that rely on the 24-hour cycle to regulate themselves.

Migrating birds can be disoriented by artificial lighting, causing them to crash into buildings. Depending on the weather, tens of thousands of birds might fly over a city in one night. In one night, a hundred birds might be killed on a single building. Chicago was the first U.S. city to initiate a “Lights Out” program in 2002 in an effort to reduce the mortality rate. It continues to encourage building owners and residents to dim their lighting and draw their blinds after 11 pm during the spring and fall seasons.

Birds aside, human safety is a major concern. If we turn out the lights, won’t criminals take advantage of the cover of darkness? Few studies have been conducted on the effect of night-lights and safety, but the results have proved inconclusive with little evidence to support the idea that increased lighting leads to decreased crime. The National Institute of Justice released a report to the U.S. Congress in 1997 called “Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising.” In the sections titled Conclusions for Open Urban Places, it states that the effectiveness of lighting is unknown.

“The problematic relationship between lighting and crime increases when one considers that offenders need lighting to detect potential targets and low-risk situations,” the report continues. “Consider lighting at outside ATM machines, for example. An ATM user might feel safer when the ATM and its immediate surrounding area are well lit. However, this same lighting makes the patron more visible to passing offenders. Who the lighting serves is unclear.”

In 2002, the Astronomical Society of Victoria in Australia compiled studies done from 1977 to 1997 and concluded that there appears to be no compelling evidence that increased outdoor lighting is beneficial.It recommends that “national lighting standards should not state or imply that outdoor lighting has any value for crime prevention or deterrence.”

Related articles

IDA Chicago Representative Audrey Fischer is pushing for community action. “This is one type of pollution that we can do something about through individual choice when we decide which type of light to put on our property,” she says.

Between 2002 and 2005, the city of Calgary retrofitted all of its approximately 37,500 residential streetlights and switched to lower-wattage, flat lens fixtures. The city estimates it will save $1.7 million per year from reduced energy consumption. The new fixtures also reduce glare on roadways and keep the light focused downward rather than up into the atmosphere.

When was the last time you saw truly starry skies? You can reduce your own light pollution by using more efficient bulbs, buying low-glare fixtures, asking your power company to remove sodium vapor lamps from your street and, of course, turning off unnecessary lights. You might discover that there's more to the Milky Way than just the moon and a few passing airplanes.

Comments

by Jay (not verified) on August 31, 2010 - 4:24pm.

Thanks for shedding some light on this issue. Especially for those of us who are afraid of the dark!

Cheers to starry skies. Keep writing.

by Email stationary (not verified) on February 1, 2011 - 4:25am.

We just need to be smarter while buying light bulbs if we really want to do something to lessen pollution. GE is one such brand which launches energy efficient, cost efficient and eco-friendly products. Since I read about the Clean Coal Technology used by GE I've been very much impressed with this brand. Solar bulbs are also perfect and a little expensive but worth investing.