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Light pollution is the pollution I care about most. I remember as a childhood the sense of wonder and inspiraiton I got from looking up at the milky way; I had
by akvadrako 6y ago
Light pollution is the pollution I care about most. I remember as a childhood the sense of wonder and inspiraiton I got from looking up at the milky way; I had no idea until I was older that many people didn't even know it was possible to see it with the naked eye.
If you also care about dark skies you might be interested in dark sky preserves¹ and the IDA².
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-sky_preserve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-sky_preserve (2) https://www.darksky.org/ https://www.darksky.org/
- jkinudsjknds 6y agoRomantic, but you might feel differently if your view of the stars was obscured first by smog before light.
- ashtonkem 6y agoLight pollution is also frustrating because it represents wasted energy. Light that goes where you don’t need it is power you didn’t need to spend.
- layer8 6y agoIt’s dwarfed by waste heat though, which is an estimated ~70% of all energy produced.
- jk7tarYZAQNpTQa 6y agoIt's a different problem altogether IMO. Wasted light is a design, political or education problem. Heat waste is often an engineering problem that we still haven't been able to solve.
- layer8 6y agoYes, it mostly is a different problem. My point is that with regard to energy wastage we have hugely more important issues than unnecessary light output. And the switch from incandescent light bulbs to LED has already reduced the energy wastage from lighting. I'm all in favor of reducing light pollution, but not because of energy concerns.
- canoebuilder 6y agoUnfortunately leds have made light pollution worse. Instead of pocketing the difference in greater photon production efficiency the trend has been to just make things brighter.(where they really don't need to be) Not to mention, not just lighting use, but lighting design needs a complete rethink in the age of leds. Much nighttime lighting, public and private used to cast a nice, pleasant glow, now very often led nighttime lighting is far too bright, and produced in wavelengths that can be quite unpleasant on the eyes, and registers as cold, sterile, and unnatural. The problem of light pollution is not solely about energy wastefulness. Light pollution disrupts natural rhythms and ecosystems. The blotting out of the night sky is a great loss for the human soul and human experience.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Zancarius 6y ago> Unfortunately leds have made light pollution worse. They also do an end run around the legal efforts to contain or limit light pollution. In my state, we have the Dark Skies Act which tries to limit the amount of light pollution in certain areas, but it largely hasn't been updated for the use of LEDs. Some counties now define light output based on lumens, but the law AFAIK still references wattage limits. So, new lights that, under the intent of the law, are too bright and require shielding can probably skirt around it (IANAL). But, almost no one knows about it, so enforcement is spotty at best. (I'm slightly annoyed presently, because some new neighbors installed a floodlight that's pointed directly at my bedroom from across the valley and it doesn't appear to be doing anything useful. Stargazing and amateur astronomy is going to suck this summer.)
- anonAndOn 6y agoWhen it comes to bright outdoor lights, high fences make good neighbors. I have a neighbor that leaves their wide angle floodlights on all night in the backyard, some of which are directly pointed towards our shared fence. That is less of a problem now that I have a block wall that may(not) be just a bit too tall for local code but makes my backyard very dark.
- canoebuilder 6y agoHeat production is a necessary component of all energy transformations. Nothing is 100% efficient in this regard as you know. But light pollution, while producing waste heat, is also just unnecessary in general. We don't need to keep office buildings lit all night, we don't need to have cities lit up all night like sports fields. Night time lighting should be on a targeted and as needed basis.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- tnorthcutt 6y agoLight pollution is the pollution I care about most. Light pollution: not deadly. Air, water, soil pollution: all catastrophically deadly.
- thereare5lights 6y ago> Light pollution: not deadly. The effects may not be as immediately obvious or severe as the other types of pollution, but it is deadly Time to turn off the lights https://www.nature.com/articles/457027a https://www.nature.com/articles/457027a Limiting the impact of light pollution on human health, environment and stellar visibility https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030147971100226X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030147971... Light pollution as a biodiversity threat. https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20103347944 https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20103347944 Light pollution disrupts sleep in free-living animals https://www.nature.com/articles/srep13557 https://www.nature.com/articles/srep13557 LIGHT POLLUTION IN THE CONTEXT OF THREATS TO THE WILDLIFE CORRIDORS https://search.proquest.com/openview/f2decb732d52abd6837baa7f13bc5868/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1536338 https://search.proquest.com/openview/f2decb732d52abd6837baa7... Understanding, Assessing, and Resolving Light-Pollution Problems on Sea Turtle Nesting Beaches http://aquaticcommons.org/115/ http://aquaticcommons.org/115/
- tnorthcutt 6y agoFair, thank you for including sources. I still think it's rather absurd to care more about light pollution than any other kind of pollution.
- thereare5lights 6y agoYes, it doesn't seem to be urgent or important a concern. But, that's based on our limited observations. Hopefully, that turns out to be true, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are more unknown and domino effects that causes light pollution to be just as or nearly as deadly in the long term.
- jballer 6y ago
- andi999 6y agoIt is unbelievable what you can see. 20 years ago I was on a small island in the gulf of thailand, 30 km away from shore, and with the great thing that all electricity on that island was generated by engines which were switched off at 10pm. The sky was full of stars.
- zajd 6y ago> Light pollution is the pollution I care about most. Translation: I live in a place where the government has regulated air quality to the point I don't understand it's importance.
- firebaze 6y agoThe only long-term solution is to convince your acquaintances to have at most one kid, or to make sure your kids join a space-faring company ;) "I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives." ... or in other words: the most relevant component in the light pollution factor is the exponential factor of human reproduction.
- deathgrips 6y agoNow your acquaintances have one kid and you still can't see the stars.
- CyberDildonics 6y agoPlease record your conversation with a neighbor when you suggest they don't have more children so that there aren't as many lights on in their house.
- zakki 6y agoIs there a method to calculate light needed in a room? Let’s say enough for reading.
- PurpleFoxy 6y agoWhy would it be the one that you care the most about? Air pollution gives you cancer and breathing difficulties, noise pollution causes stress and hearing damage, soil and water pollution poison you and the environment. In contrast light pollution deprives you of a good view and messes up some nocturnal animals. Sure, it’s not great, but compared to other forms of pollution it’s almost a non issue.