How bad is light pollution, really?

Taking off from our previous post on light pollution, where we understand this form of pollution has a major presence in highly urbanized areas, we have still yet to tackle what the big deal of light pollution is, right? I mean, you can’t breathe light, so your lungs…should be okay? And like…light doesn’t contaminate food, does it?

Well, okay. Light is most definitely not material. But an excess of artificial light is, without a doubt, damaging to the ecosystem surrounding a city, as well as those residing in a city, which would be us humans.

But first, the effects towards the ecosystem. The most obvious instance would be the effects towards nocturnal animals in areas surrounding the city, among which they suffer disruptions to their daily rhythms as new patterns of light get introduced, which may disrupt their behavioural patterns and adversely affect their health. Some examples of this include nocturnal moths that mistake artificial light for moonlight and are attracted to such lights, which could end up harming the moth (Sadly, I know this a little too well, as my lamp has indeed burned quite a few moths :”-(). All this could affect the ecology of an ecosystem, especially when insects form a vital part of a food chain, and disrupting insect life creates a ripple effect throughout the rest of the food chain.

However, skipping all the ecological disasters around cities light pollution can bring, light pollution itself can harm humans. Especially in an increasingly urbanized world, wherein more people are living in intense levels of skyglow, these health effects are starting to become more and more relevant. Much like other animals, us humans also have our own rhythms towards light in the day, known as circadian rhythms, which help us produce melatonin that keeps us healthy throughout the night. Excess exposure to light, though — namely blue light — suppresses such melatonin, and this blue light can be more commonly found in ‘newer’ forms of lighting like LEDs. This has been linked to multiple problems, namely those that link light pollution to obesity.

So, to any students staying up late at night to rush those final few papers, take note of what light is coming out of your screen. It may just be harmful for your health. God knows its harming me right now.