Health and Ecological Issues
Nocturnal frogs suddenly exposed to artificial light stop all activity and sit motionless hours after the light is off. Birds are drawn to artificially lighted towers and skyscrapers where hundreds of thousands die each year from collisions or exhaustion. Their vision and internal magnetic compasses seem to become dysfunctional in the artificial light. Artificial lights lead baby sea turtles off course where many die before they can get to the ocean. Salamanders loose their ability to navigate. Artificial light seems to interfere with fireflies, which generate light for sexual communication. The list goes on and on. The consequences of artificial light at night include general disruptions in daily activity cycles, and reductions in dispersal, foraging, and reproductive opportunities.
In “Degraded Darkness”, Ben Harder says: “It's tempting to assume that artificial light distresses only a few exquisitely sensitive species. But mounting evidence suggests that disappearing darkness undermines our best conservation efforts.”
More and more ecological and health issues are being identified that are caused by artificial light at night. Every animal (humans included) and plant on earth has functions dependent on living in an environment with a pattern of light and darkness. The number of hours of each trigger key occurences in the lives of almost every living thing on earth. Medical studies show that exposure to artificial light at night tampers with our endocrine system by stoping our production of Melatonin. Melatonin, which is triggered by darkness, has been proved to stop the growth of breast cancer cells. Even nocturnal animals have a normal melatonin spike in the early morning hours that artificial light will suppress.
Effective Outdoor Lighting
We don't begin to know all the alterations and disruptions that are caused by our modern habit of profusely using artificial light at night. Why do we let artificial light at night continue causing this harm?
