Why you should care about light pollution

You may have never heard of it, but light pollution can put our health and wildlife at risk - and over 80 percent of the world is affected by it. How can we get darkness back?

#PlanetA #LightPollution  #DarkSky

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READ MORE:

Overview of night brightness in different countries:

Darksky network, general overview and practical solutions:

Citizen science project to measure night brightness:

About the dark side of blue light:

Impact of light at night on insects pollination activity:

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Author: Tim Schauenberg
Video Editor: Cem Springer
Supervising Editor: Kiyo Dörrer

[erikscustomguns]

As someone who was raised on a farm, it was a shock to me to see city folks so amazed at the stars. I had no clue city lights blocked the view of stars.

[madbug]

I went camping once and got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Seeing the Milky Way for the first time was mind blowing. I stayed up for a hour just looking at it. As a backyard astronomer it was one of my most memorable experiences....

[omgha]

There are millions living in urban centers that have never seen the night sky. It is quite sad, not to mention the animals effected by this.

[edward]

Well some lights look aesthetically nice. However, seeing the hundreds to millions of stars is unbeatable.

[iputukrisnakuumbara]

In Bali, for once a year, there's a ceremonial day called Nyepi Day (Nyepi means "quiet"). We, the Balinese, turn off any kind of electric device for 24 hours (except for emergency service such as hospital and fire fighter). Also, we spent most of our time in our house. Thus, there are no vehicles passing by the entire streets in Bali. We celebrate Nyepi Day as a day of reflection our life.

During Nyepi Day, we could see the milky way with our naked eyes. There are no light pollution and air pollution. Only a peaceful day

[wildlifeisthewealthofnatur]

I want to see such clear sky atleast once in my life. It's heaven on earth.

[nrdstrm]

I'm so in favor of switching to softer lights. As I'm so sick of seeing bright ass leds on vehicles at night.

[winter]

“Use lights with a warmer tone”

My City: switches street lights to bright blue LEDs

[ghostface]

It's so sad ppl nowadays have never seen a clear nightsky with stars or meteor showers bc of light pollution and most don't even bother to care.

[dramallamarama]

There is no experience like being out in the middle of nowhere and staring into that cosmic sea.
Everything melts away, leaving just you and the stars.

[veggieboyultimate]

Light pollution seriously needs to get more attention and solutions because it obviously affects people and the environment

[crabber]

Half of you guys are literally scared of the dark I swear, the amount of times I’ve seen someone defend light pollution.

[charliepea]

I miss when various stars can be seen in my town. It was more than a decade ago. Now only Sirius and the Moon can be seen at night along with some skyglow...

[NotTooStraight]

This is my first time actually hearing about the negative effects, but I have always absolutely HATED lights at night. My family hates me because I have to completely black out all artificial light in my house. What’s weird is the moon does not bother me at all

[wallflower]

I was once in a car accident. The first thing I noticed was how calm the Forest was and how beautiful the Milky Way is. I never saw it again.

[themoonsea]

Everybody who has a telescope and tried to see deep sky objects knows this well.

When you have been out to a darker place, returning to your town in the middle of the night is like getting from clear into dirty water.

[jeffm]

I live in a more rural area, Sadly my neighbors all think they need to have lights on outside 24/7 for security purposes. It's not one home, it's 90% of them. So I moved from the big city to a much more rural area and the light pollution is just about as bad.

[roberthoople]

As someone who's worked in Film, Television and Theatre, I've often wondered why outdoor lighting doesn't employ even the most basic mechanism to control control light pollution: the barndoor.

Honestly, urban planners would benefit from hiring a few gaffers and cinematographers when making policy and designing urban spaces.

[maddiepiglet]

The thing is that most lights that you see in the cities like the bill board signs are totally unnecessary and not only uses a lot of power but cause great light pollution

[Mirsab]

It's crazy how I didn't know that it was normal to see several stars in the sky or heck even the milky way Galaxy untill maybe a few years ago. I live in Dubai for context.