Greetings urban dwellers! I hope the previous articles on land pollution as well as the various methods of managing land wastes have been fruitful in your learning to urban pollution. Today, we embark on a new journey, exploring unchartered lights. Indeed, we have now shored upon the issue of light pollution.

Sky Glow over London, United Kingdom (https://ilivebytheriverblog.wordpress.com/2012/11/25/a-photo-of-london-from-space/)

I believe we are no strangers to the term light pollution, but what exactly does it entail and more importantly, how does it affect the environment? Simply, light pollution is problematised due to the excess of illumination of artificial light and can have adverse effects on our bodies and the environment. To briefly understand the detriments of light pollution (more shall be discussed in future posts!), exposure to excess artificial light can cause the human body to be lethargic and unalert, cause irregular sleep cycles and melatonin levels. Additionally, it also affects ecosystems that reside in and in the vicinity of the cities.

In urban cities, light sources such as street lamps, neon signboards, domestic lights and more, can contribute to unwanted light pollution. As a rule of thumb, the more urbanised an area is, there is usually a larger degree of light pollution. This is because urban activities and environment tend to require more illumination in the night sky, so that we can continue to function even at night. Interestingly, some cities boast their light pollution levels as an indicator for their prosperity and development. However, as light pollution is a modern phenomenon, it is only gaining traction in recent times, as compared to other forms of pollution that have been studied for decades and centuries.

Thou hath the candle singed the moth. The title of this post is related to the Shakespearian quote of how the moth is overly attracted to the light of the candle and ends up burning itself. I reckon this quote is relevant for light pollution as we are extremely keen to urbanise our environment and introducing artificial lights at every corner of the city. As a result, we face an (in)visible light pollutant that can compromise on our quality of life and harm ecosystems. In the posts to come, I will shed some LIGHT on this topic.

You Live in Urban, You Fight for Urban.

Your metropollution warrior,

BriChua

References:

Bramley, E. V. (2014, October 23). Urban light pollution: Why we’re all living with permanent ‘mini jetlag’. The Guardian. Retrieved March 2, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/oct/23/-sp-urban-light-pollution-permanent-mini-jetlag-health-unnatural-bed