Luminosity Illuminated Through the Miasma
The idea of light pollution is a relatively new issue concerning pollution in general. Issues like water pollution and air pollution have taken priority with researchers and scientists. So what exactly is light pollution? I found many definitions, but Carl Shaflik outlines the definition quite nicely in his article, Light Pollution Environmental Effects of Roadway Lighting. Shaflik states that, “Light pollution is a generic term that encompasses many different aspects of improper lighting . . . The three major components of light pollution are light trespass, glare and urban sky glow” (pg. 8). Light trespass can be defined as light going where it is not intended to go. An example would be if you live next to a street lamp and the light not only covers the roadway it is intended to cover, but also enters your home. Not only is something like this annoying, but that extra light that is entering your home is light waste. It is unwanted, unused energy and energy cost money. Glare according to Shaflik has three areas worth separate definition. “Blinding glare: A glare that is so intense that for an appreciable time after the stimulus has been removed no object can be seen or easily distinguished . . . Disability glare: Glare that causes reduced visual performance . . . [and] Discomfort glare: Glare that produces discomfort or annoyance without necessarily interfering with visual performance” (pg. 10). Urban sky glow is something that everyone may be more familiar with. It is the excess of light given off by urban areas that make it virtually impossible to see the night sky. Beyond this general definition of light pollution there are several other factors that are of interest when discussing light pollution. First, the use of light in public areas and roadways, how it is essential, how it is wasteful and ways to combat its wastefulness is an important issue. Secondly, the effect that light has on our health and the health of nocturnal animals is another factor of concern. Finally, upon examining various articles and concerns regarding light pollution, I intend to create a greater understanding of light pollution to the general reader, why it is important that we reduce light pollution and how to reduce it. As Verlyn Klinkenborg so adequately states in Our Vanishing Night Sky, “the only way to explain what we’ve done to the night: We’ve engineered it to receive us by filling it with light” (pg. 1), is the only true way to understand the presents of light pollution in our lives.
First, let us look at the use of light in public areas and roadways. It is essential that some areas are lighted in the night, like roadways. “Reduction of nighttime accidents, aid to police protection, facilitation of traffic flow, promotion of businesses, inspiration of community growth [and] safety for pedestrians” (Shaflik, pg. 8) are just a few of the obvious reasons it is crucial to use light. Although we may not be able to discontinue our use of light, we are able to control the type, quality and placement of light fixtures. Shaflik estimates that “35% to 50% of light pollution is caused by roadway lighting” (pg. 2) and he gives simple, yet important ways to reduce this number. By using light fixtures called full-cutoff luminaries, glare is reduced. Unlike the use of non-cutoff luminaries where the glare produced is nearly equal to the amount of usable light produced. Shaflik also talks about how the average road light fixture has an estimated 25 years of “service life”. So if every non-cutoff luminary was replaced with the more efficient type of full-cutoff luminary, the process of switching would be complete in about 25 years, total. This small switch would not require any extra labor and would undoubtedly help in the fight against light pollution.
Other public areas are concerned with the same things that roadways are concerned with in the ways of lighting. Safety is a main concern because we know somewhere deep in our human minds that things go bump in the night. Specifically talked about in Carla Gallina and Jeffrey Mandyck’s essay, Light Done Right, is the use of lighting for libraries. Although their topic is limited it can be applied to any public area being lighted at night. “Imagine light when and where you need it, illuminating a path to the library entrance as you walk along it; a parking lot lit only when occupied; looking up from your screen or book to view the constellations, even the Milky Way” (pg. 5). It seems like a surreal world of nighttime lights coming on only when you need them, but with motion sensor technology, this does not seem impossibly or even unlikely. This kind of nighttime lighting would even be beneficial for security reasons. If a place of business is not open and the lights surrounding it are only active when someone or something is moving, then surrounding facilities could be more aware of activity and thus more aware or things like intruders or loiterers. Gallina and Mandyck state that, “few libraries have a facilities budget that allows changing lighting for the sole purpose of reducing light pollution. Yet, in many instances reducing light pollution will also result is reduced energy and maintenance costs, which may justify a larger modification program” (pg. 9). Although they are able to come to the conclusion that changing light fixture can be energy efficient, they are unable to exact a number to the affordability of such changes. “It is very difficult to estimate general costs for lighting systems because of how they are specified, purchased, and bid. Just as energy costs vary by client, site, and region, so do light fixtures” (pg. 7). This is a major downfall to their argument but I don’t feel that it totally undercuts their debate. They still make a valuable contribution to why light pollution should be addressed and specific ways in which to do it.
Secondly, the effect that light has on our health and the health of nocturnal animals is another factor of concern. In Verlyn Klinkenborg’s essay, Our Vanishing Night, many environmental issues are touched on. In this essay there is discussion about migratory birds that are greatly affected by artificial lights, also foraging animals that have become more cautious because “they’ve become easier targets for predators” (pg. 1), and nesting turtles that when hatched, “gravitate toward the brighter, more reflective sea horizon” (pg.2) that are led astray by artificial lights. Klinkenborg’s essay glosses over many issues that are very important but does not pinpoint any one specific concern. In Sharon Wise’s essay, Studying the Ecological Impacts of Light Pollution on Wildlife: Amphibians as Models, the reader is given a specific example which can help in gaining a greater understanding of some direct causes and effects. She pinpoints amphibians because they “are particularly sensitive to environmental changes and, thus, are important indicators of the health of ecosystems” (pg. 107). Her overall synapses of this particular issue is that more research needs to be done in order to accurately and scientifically connect artificial light to species degradation, but she does consistently find that artificial light is not beneficial to the lives of amphibians. She uses finding from laboratory, field and natural observation experiments to help address the issue of light pollution in regards to how it affects amphibians. In laboratory experiments she reports that, “melatonin production was lowered in salamanders kept under constant light” (pg. 111) and “a greater proportion of frogs in the darkest lighting treatment metamorphosed than in the other lighting treatments” (pg. 111). This basically states that dark is needed by amphibians in order to live and grow normally. In field experiments she states that, “there were significantly more salamanders active on the forest floor in the dark transects than in the lighted transects. This field experiment demonstrated a short-term reduction in activity of salamanders that were exposed to artificial night lighting” (pg.112). In natural observation experiments Wise addresses another study enacted by Baker in which it was, “hypothesized that toads aggregated under street lamps because of the increased insect abundance (prey for toads) found there. Although such aggregations may be beneficial in providing toads with abundant, conspicuous food source, Baker hypothesized that such aggregation may also make toads more susceptible to mortality as a result of bicycle or automotive traffic” (pg.113). I particularly found Wise’s study to be beneficial because she covers more than one scientific way in which light pollution can affect amphibian life. Although her argument is very narrow, it does show through the scientific lens how light in affecting the life cycle of a particular indicator species. This can be directly related to other species within those ecosystems and even to our own environment. It is well known that nearly all life on the planet earth is greatly dependent on light to regulate our biological cycles. By being aware of findings like Wise’s, we can better understand how our light is seeping into the world of other creatures. By recognizing this problem we can start to approach ideas of how to avoid and fix the problem of light pollution and its effects on other ecosystems besides our own.
In order to demonstrate more fully how humans are affected by light, I would like to address an article by, Mariana Gross Figueiro, Mark S. Rea and Gregory Eggleston titled, Light Therapy and Alzheimer’s Disease. In this article they, “undertook a pilot study to determine if exposure to blue light from light emitting diodes (LEDs) could have a clinical impact on AD [Alzheimer’s Disease] patients” (pg. 2). Their findings basically indicated that by being exposed to this blue light during the day helped patients to be “more awake during the day and more asleep at night” (pg. 3). These findings are not directly related to the issue of light pollution, but they are directly linked to how the use of light affects human beings. It has also been found that when people are exposed to artificial light for long periods of time that their melatonin levels are affected. This has direct correlation to the presents of breast cancer in women. It also has direct links to stress, depression, anxiety, fatigue, headaches and even blood pressure according to many websites like www.greenfudge.org. There is no doubt that humans need light to live and there seems to be no debate that we create light when and where we need it. So because we need light, what can we do to lessen the impacts on ourselves and all things affected by light?
Finally let me address some answers to the questions I posed above. In Bob Mizon’s book titled, Light Pollution: Responses and Remedies, he dedicates a whole chapter (pgs. 142-167) to some of the things that can be done to help combat light pollution. Although he is writing from the stand point of an astronomer, his points are still valid. Mizon states that manufactures can install full-cutoff lighting as discussed earlier. He also states that it is not about turning off all the lights, but it is more about aiming them appropriately, as to not waste light on areas that don’t need it. Mizon also acknowledges that we should look to our legislators in order to make this issue more mainstream. By electing people aware of such pollution, something may be done. This, in my opinion, is something we should all become more aware of. It is a typical feeling to be overwhelmed by any environmental issue, but if we can find someone with the power and voice to get behind, then we are headed somewhere. Similarly Mizon talks about confronting local authorities about public lighting. Here every person has a voice. If you pay your taxes, chances are you have helped to install a light somewhere on the roadways. And if your money goes toward heightening light pollution, you have a say in confronting this issue. Whether it is your neighbor’s security lights or a public roadway’s light that trespasses onto your property, you have the right to address local legislation and make your voice heard. Some simple solutions are to draw your shades at night, use the light you need and keep the light you are not using from going outside of your home. Turn off lights that you are not using, because light pollution is not just about our health and the health of nocturnal life, but it is about saving money and limiting waste. Make good decisions about things like exterior lighting, use lights that light what you need lit, not your whole yard. Many of these examples may seem oversimplified, but they are not. Hopefully, upon examining various articles and concerns regarding light pollution, I created a greater understanding of light pollution to the general reader, why it is important that we reduce light pollution and ways to reduce it.
WORKS CITED
Books
1.) Mizon, Bob. Light Pollution: Responses and Remedies. Singapore: Springer-Verlag London Limited, 2002. Print.
Magazines
1.) Gallina, Carla. "Light Done Right." Library Journal 2009: 1-5. Print.
Websites
1.) Klinkenborg, Verlyn. "Light Pollution." National Geographic.com. November 2008. National Geographic, Web. 24 Jan 2010. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/11/light-pollution/klinkenborg-text.
2.) www.greenfudge.org/2009/11/05/unpopular-environmental-issues-we-should-care-about.
3.) Figueiro, Rea, Eggleston, Mariana Gross, Mark S, Gregory. "Issue Stories." Light Therapy and Alzheimer’s Disease. Januaru-February 2003. Sleep Review, Web. 1 Feb 2010. http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/issues/articles/2003-01_01.asp
Unpublished Essays
1.) Shaflik, Carl. “Light Pollution: Environmental Effects of Roadway Lighting. Technical Paper prepared for: CIVL 582 – Transportation Engineering Impacts.” University of British Columbia. http://www.shaflik.com/documents/LIGHT%20POLLUTION%20TECHNICAL%20PAPER.pdf
2.) Wise, Sharon. “Studying the Ecological Impacts of Light Pollution on Wildlife: Amphibians as Models.” Department of Biology. Utica College, Utica, NY U.S.A. http://www.starlight2007.net/pdf/proceedings/SharonWise.pdf
Web Image
1.) "USA-light-pollution.gif." . Web. 8 Feb 2010. <: www.astro.virginia.edu/.../astr130/lec3-f08.html
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