Light pollution is harming our health • As nights have gotten brighter, the list of health problems linked to artificial lighting has gotten longer, from insomnia to cancer.

3 comments

1. I live in a college town and near a student neighborhood- a lot of mischief at night, parties out of control, random guns, sexual assault- so the city installed streetlights nearly as bright as daylight in the downtown area and a perimeter around campus. I understand the need for safety, but it’s insane. It’s been a long time since I remember these areas being truly dark. Stargazing used to be dodgy at best, of course, as is always the case for urban areas- now it’s impossible. Absolutely ruined it.

   Thank goodness for blackout curtains, we had to buy and install for the whole house.

2. My city has an ordinance against exterior lighting that is not shaded to prevent leakage beyond the specific area to be illuminated and yet they install blazing white LED unshielded street lamps because some nutcase thinks in the daytime they make it look like quaint old Timey street lamps… but really it just looks like a poorly-executed and tacky effort to look “vintage”.

3. I have this conversation with people all the time. So many people insist that they need lots of outdoor lighting to be ‘safe’. It’s nonsense.