Bring em back

Bring Back the Stars

Two hundred years ago, the night sky looked like a midnight colored quilt with thousands of tiny christmas lights scattered throughout the patches. This quilt covered every inch of world. However, due to misguided synthetic light, most people can barely see the north star. Light pollution brightens the night sky, disrupts natural light cycles, and obstructs observations of stars and planets. Twenty-two day ago, the City Council of Reykjavik, turned off the street lights from 10pm-12pm to provide the citizens the “best possible view” of the northern lights. These spectacular views need to spread worldwide. Simply reducing and shielding outdoor lighting will prevent manufactured light from spilling into the sky and decrease the influence man-made light has on wild-life.

Light pollution has destroyed the beauty of outer space, and has harmful environmental consequences for humans.There are various forms of light pollution: glare, skyglow, light trespass, light clutter. These types of pollution dilute the night sky by glossing a layer of haze over stars. Skyglow, the illumination of the night sky in populated areas, affects approximately 80% of the world. Skyglow is easily reduced by shielding exterior lights, facing the lights towards the ground, or tinting them yellow or red. This prevents light from overflowing into the night sky. Additionally, light pollution disrupts the day-night pattern, and alters the balance of the environment. Light pollution not only affects humans, but also affects the lifecycles of wildlife.

Synthetic light disrupts many animal species that rely on natural light. Sunlight and moonlight help animals determine daytime, nighttime, sleeping time, breeding time, migration time, and hunting patterns. The man-made light misleads animals and disrupts their natural clocks. Drawing blinds at night and installing motion sensors for outdoor lighting will minimize the effect that light pollution has on wildlife and the ecosystem.

Light pollution harms animals and obstructs spectacular views. These problem can be solved! Humans need to to decrease light pollution. People worldwide should have the opportunity to see the tranquil vistas that the world has to offer. The action by City Council of Reykjavik to turn off the streetlights to allow the townsmen to see the true beauty of the night sky will hopefully influence other towns and cities to follow. And maybe humans will learn that reducing light pollution will benefit themselves, nature, and wildlife.