If you have been reading this blog for a few years, you know it : I am very much interested in astronomy and even happen to practice it from time to time. But this is becoming harder and harder globally because of light pollution.
But is light pollution really a pollution ? YES, as it has averse effects on many if not on all species, including ours. Aeon Magazine has published a compelling article on why we should turn off – or at least drastically dim – all street lights :
1. it’s useless to have so much light at night 2. it’s bad for human health 3. it’s even worse for animals. Reading the article, I am quite glad France decided last year to tackle this issue.
Let’s hope for everybody that more will follow. Here is an extract of this long article :
A young but rapidly growing field of research suggests that night-time light itself is far more dangerous than the dark. In a 2012 report, an American Medical Association committee called electric lighting a ‘man-made self-experiment’ creating potentially harmful health effects.
Humans, and everything else that lives on this planet with us, evolved during billions of years along a reliable cycle of day and night, with clear boundaries between them. Staunching the flood of artificial light can help restore this divide. Our well-being, and that of our fellow creatures, might depend on us doing so – or at the very least trying.
The loss of night-time darkness neglects our shared past, but it might very well cut short our futures too.
(…) A growing body of evidence shows that light pollution exacerbates, and might directly cause, cancer, obesity, and depression, the troublesome triumvirate of industrialised society.