Hey guys, it's Adventure Van here with a blog about Light Pollution, a thing that sounds outrageous at first. How can you have too much light? Except for staring at a bright bulb, there's no real disadvantages to light, right? Well, the answer might not be obvious to you now, but that's because of the fact that we've grown so used to what we've been obscuring being obscured. The amount of stars we used to be able to see, (and are still able to see at some remote places) has been reduced down to a few ten. The sky has become so obscured by human lights, that we can't see the galaxy above our own heads. It's destroying the aesthetic. But aesthetics aren't that important, right?
Well, other then being a detriment to astrologers who need to seek out untouched areas in order to look at potentially important things up in the sky, it's also damaging local wild life, and humanity as a whole. How? Well, most animals incapable of generating their own light (almost all of them), are based around a cycle of day and night, while those that can depend on light to deal with their own species. Light ruins the cycle and can even mess up very important things, like mating or hibernation.
But hey, says the most selfish among us. If it doesn't effect me, why should I care? To them I say, it does effect you, and in more ways then robbing us of natural beauty and wildlife. As above, we humans lived a very long time without being able to have an excess of unnatural light, and we suffer the consequences range from Insomnia to oversleeping. An ill-placed collection of lights produces a glare that can blind people, which when around a street is devastating. And above all, too much light at night can raise chances of the following: obesity, depression, sleep disorders, diabetes, breast cancer and more.
Adventure Van, dimming the lights.
If you're interested in this kind of stuff, or want to help out in your area, check out the International Dark Sky Association.
