Why We Can’t See the Stars

Light pollution is more dangerous than it sounds

Opinion 2 - Light Pollution by DLC
(Danielle George)

Earth and outer space lovers have been protesting light pollution since before the 21st century began. The push against excessive artificial light got its big break with the dark-sky movement, spearheaded by astronomers afraid of losing sight of the stars. Since then, the movement has welcomed activists of all occupations, including biologists who study darkness and the effect it has on the environment.

The most common complaint about light pollution is that it blots out the expansive majesty of the cosmos. As a girl who’s always lived in the city, I know this to be true—I didn’t really see the stars until I made a trip out to an off-the-grid island last summer, and the view took my breath away. The shrouding of the stars in light is known as skyglow, with artificial skyglow being caused by things like skyscrapers and stadiums.

There are plenty of other ways to categorize light pollution as well, such as light trespass, over-illumination, glare, and light clutter, all of which essentially describe too much light where it doesn’t naturally exist.

Damage to the environment is another reason to take a stance against light pollution. Of course, turning on enough light to power the whole world sucks up energy at an exponential rate, boosting global electricity consumption and, as a result, greenhouse gas emissions.

On a smaller scale, ecosystems suffer from ecological light pollution. Nature revolves around the rising and setting of the sun, which man-made light interferes with. If certain flowers stop blooming during the night because of nearby lamp posts, moths cannot pollinate them, and both species suffer. Algae blooms are a dramatic result of ecological light pollution, caused when light-deterred zooplankton don’t come to the surface to eat the algae. These have the potential to kill all of the plant life within a lake and considerably damage the water quality. Millions of birds have died by flying too close to well-lit skyscrapers during migration, since they are naturally drawn to sparkling beacons and bulbs.

There is proof that too much exposure to light can detriment human health as well. It’s commonly accepted that staring at a phone or television screen before bed can cause sleep disruption and insomnia, but more adverse medical issues have also been observed, such as headaches, fatigue, stress, and anxiety.

The individual solution to these issues is relatively simple: use less light. Try to be as mindful every day as you are on Earth Day. Keep your lights on a timer or sensor, and switch over to low-pressure sodium lamps and full cutoff lighting rather than traditional fixtures. You can also put the effort into writing an outdoor lighting ordinance—a set of rules designed to reduce light pollution—for your community.

It is up to municipal, provincial, and federal leaders to ensure that Canada is using the smartest light sources that they can, with LED and low and high pressure sodium lamps the most efficient options. Parts of Hawaii, California, and Arizona have already taken these steps by using less pollutive street light bulbs. Ensuring that there is not an unnecessary amount of light in the cities or streets is also a responsibility of the government, but as always, the civilians must pressure them to take the leap.