Quick DIY Fixes to Light Pollution

Light Pollution is a worldwide issue, but there are some short term fixes that individuals can try to get started toward preventing light pollution. If each of us could make a few easy, inexpensive changes, we could prevent further light pollution. Here are a few of those possible changes:

• Use light bulbs with lower wattage. We like to use floodlights at night to feel safer, but they are not always necessary and create a lot of light pollution.
• Replace lights that are hardly used with motion sensor lights, so they are only on when they are truly necessary.
• Do you have lights that are hanging bare-bulbed? These are some of the greatest causes of light pollution. By making sure all your lights are encased and directed only where they need to be, you can reduce your impact on light pollution.

By doing these three things, you can make an impact on reducing light pollution and help the return to dark skies in your area. But you don't need to stop there. Encourage your friends and neighbors, your local businesses, to try these same methods. That way one person can make an impact on a global issue.

For more information about how you can help reduce light pollution, visit http://www.darksky.org/ the website of the International Dark Sky Association, for more information.

Photosynthesis at Night

Contrary to popular belief, photosynthesis does happen at night in some plants. These plants are called CAM plants, and their stomata, the openings that allow water evaporation, only open at night to conserve water. Many of these plant species belong to the cactus family and thrive in hot, dry environments.

Saguaro cactus in the deserts of Arizona.

Their advantage is that they are more efficient in their water usage by not allowing it to evaporate during the day. They only allow evaporation at night because there is no sunlight, lower temperature, and lower wind speeds. CAM plants are often seen as having a major advantage over other plants in many areas because of their extra efficiency. But with the growing threat of light pollution, the photosynthetic processes of CAM plants are being negatively affected.

This dead barrel cactus could exemplify the effect of light pollution on CAM plants.

They open their stomata when there is naturally less light, but in places where the level of brightness has reached near daytime levels due to artificial lights, this adaptation hurts them. Instead of conserving water, the artificial lights will cause a higher transpiration rate than they are used to, reducing their health and interrupting their photosynthetic pattern. Reducing the health and by default the population of a influential plant like cactus can have a great effect on the surrounding ecosystems.

There has not been much research done on the effects of light pollution on photosynthesis, so not much is known about how great of an effect it can actually have. But based on knowledge of CAM plants and the process of photosynthesis, we can assume that an unnatural abundance of light can have a negative effect.

For more information on the workings of CAM plants and other types of photosynthesis:
Photosynthesis-An Overview
CAM Plants YouTube Video
CAM Plant-Dictionary Definition

Health Effects of Light Pollution

In a recent article on Environmental Health Perspectives, Ron Chepesiuk wrote on the health risks that light pollution presents. He addressed the numerous effects that they can have on plant, animal, and human health.

First he addresses how an excess of artificial light can become a distraction for different species. Hatchling turtles move toward the ocean based on the lack of coming from land. But now they are distracted and disoriented by bright lights that are now prevalent on beaches around the world. It can prove fatal for the poor baby turtles if they do not find the sea soon enough. Birds, frogs, rats, and many other species can also be fatally distracted by light pollution, harming the rich ecosystems that try to thrive around our cities.

He also discusses how light pollution can throw off the circadian clocks of organisms. The circadian clock is the 24 hour day/night cycle that controls many physiological aspects of organisms. Extending the day with artificial light upsets circadian clocks and can cause many health problems, such as insomnia and cardiac disease. The disruption of the circadian clock has also been associated with disrupting prenatal development and causing cancer.

In conclusion, he outlines the current research on light pollution, what little there is of it. His goal behind this article is to explain that light pollution is a real problem, and to raise awareness about it so that more research can be done.

The full article can be found here, as well as many other articles written by Chepesiuk:
Missing the Dark full article

Check the Light Pollution in Your Area!

Two new mobile applications(apps) were released recently that give citizens the ability to measure their own isolation. The Dark Sky Meter for Apple allows you to take a picture of the night sky and receive results about the skyglow in your area. The Loss of the Night app for Android is meant to help astronomers avoid heavy light pollution in their research.

For more information on these apps, search them in the App Store or find them on the CitizenSci blog:
CitizenSci Apps-Light Pollution

FLAP-Protecting Migratory Birds One Light at a Time

FLAP, or the Fatal Light Awareness Program, is a small organization in Canada that raises awareness about the effect of light pollution on migratory birds. At the moment they are a very small group of volunteers based in Toronto that are passionate about saving our birds from light pollution. They research and record the changing behaviors of birds as more urban areas that put out a lot of light spring up along migration routes.

Many species of migratory birds are used to flying at night, and they base their route on the moon, the sun, and the stars. Light pollution can interfere with that and often causes birds to get disoriented. It may even cause bird/building collisions, a little known tragedy that causes millions of bird fatalities every year. And as our lights get brighter and our buildings get taller, the number of lost birds will continue to go up.

To prevent this, we need to learn how to use light in a way that it doesn't interfere with nature. We need to reduce it, redirect it, and overall learn how to make it so it doesn't continue to be a fatal distraction for these birds. Simply raising awareness of this issue, such as through an organization like FLAP, may be all we need to do to protect these important species of migratory birds from the harm caused by our artificial lights.

For more information on FLAP, see their website:
FLAP Home Page

What is Light Pollution?

Have you ever been to a place so far from civilization that you can witness the beauty of the true starry night sky? Or are you trapped in a city where bright, artificial lights run 24 hours a day, replacing the real night with an orange haze? This is light pollution, when the artificial light put out by our cities becomes excessive to the point of being intrusive on the environment.

Light pollution, like many other forms of pollution, is very recent in the wide expanse of Earth's history. It is a strictly man made pollutant, only emerging when we began to industrialize and use light bulbs. Two hundred years ago, some of the most populated cities of the world wouldn't have had a glow at all, because it was well before the advent of the light bulb. Now look at it in the above photo. All of Europe and most of the United States is covered in so much artificial light that it can be seen from space. Everyone knows there's a lot of artificial light all over the world. What we don't realize is the effect that all of this light can have on the environment.

Ecosystems around and within our brightly lit cities can be negatively affected by the overabundance of unnatural light. There are a multitude of nocturnal species for which light serves as a powerful biological factor. Many animals' behavior can be altered by artificial light, such as their feeding, breeding, and migration patterns. Artificial light can also interfere with the natural photosynthesis of plants by simulating sunlight at unusual hours, and competing with it during the day. Each of these changes caused by light pollution have already been altering the ecosystems near our cities, and the effects will only spread from there.

Another component of light pollution is the incredible amount of energy we use to power millions of artificial lights. Is it really necessary for an entire city to be brightly lit all through the night? We could turn off some lights and save much of the previously wasted energy. If we reduce the number of lights turned on at night to save energy, and in the process reduce the light pollution that can harm ecosystems. Saving, rather than killing, two birds with one stone, if you will.

Light pollution as a whole is a known idea, but it is often misunderstood. It does more than just block out the stars. It can greatly harm the environment by interfering with ecosystems and wasting energy needlessly. Light pollution is an important problem that needs to be dealt with, but with small things such as reducing our use of artificial light, we can accomplish our goal of reducing light pollution as a whole.

For more information on what light pollution is, see:
National Geographic on Light Pollution
Light Pollution Overview-Wikipedia