There is a growing menace in today’s society known as light pollution. Light pollution is essentially excessive light from outside lighting fixtures that is misused and causes several negative effects. This increasing and perplexing issue is often magnified by industrialization and urban development which often neglects to consider the momentous problems light pollution causes. Despite serious efforts to minimize light pollution, “…light pollution rises about 6% every year” (Parks 30). One should know what light pollution entails, the adverse effects and costs of light pollution, ways it can be minimized, and how to appeal to the general public to help alleviate the problem.
In more complex terms, light pollution is known as obtrusive light or spill light. Spill light is “[l]ight emitted by a lighting installation that falls outside the boundaries of the property on which the installation is sited” (von Maltitz 1). This type of light can be measured through vertical illuminance, luminous intensity, threshold increment, and upward waste light ratio (von Maltitz 1).
The creation of manmade or artificial light essentially pollutes the natural light of the night sky. Common examples of light pollution include sky glow, glare, overillumination, light trespass, and clutter. Sky glow is the brightening of the night sky often seen as a halo appearing over urban areas (Chepesiuk 3). Glare refers to disproportionate brightness which creates visual discomfort (“Light Pollution and Human Health”). Overillumination refers to artificial light used that surpasses what is needed for an activity. Light trespass is light that occurs where it is not intended such as a streetlight spilling on an area that would have been dark. Clutter is i...
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...M. Mitchell. "The Economics Of Global Light Pollution." Ecological Economics 69.3 (2010): 658-665. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Nov. 2011.
International Dark-Sky Association. Light Pollution and Human Health. Tucson, AZ: International Dark-Sky Association. Gildea Foundation, June-July 2009. Web. .
International Dark-Sky Association. Light Pollution and Wildlife. Tucson, AZ: International Dark-Sky Association, 2008. Gildea Foundation. Web. .
Parks, Bob. "The Battle To Control Light Pollution." Sky & Telescope 122.3 (2011): 30-34. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Nov. 2011.
von Maltitz, L. J. "Light Pollution: Are You a Cultprit?" International Dark-Sky Association Inc. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. .
What is Light pollution? Light pollution is artificial skylight that interferes especially with astronomical observations. Light pollution has been around for centuries. According to “Stars”, “two-thirds of humanity live under the orange haze of a light-polluted night sky and one-fifth cannot see the Milky Way, the galaxy that contains Earth.” The Milky Way looks like a line that is filled with starts stretching throughout the sky (“Stars”). Not a lot of people are aware of this issue. The main cause of light pollution is bad lighting design. This allows artificial light to shine outward and upward into the sky, where its not wanted (356).
Since the beginning of time, human beings were trying to find ways how to make their lives better. Technological improvements and inventions brought us a lot of benefits, but with benefits come consequences. Side effects are different types of pollution that we , as humans, are aware of. There are six kinds of pollution: land, water, noise, thermal, air, and light. The article "Our Vanishing Night," by Verlyn Klikenborg shows us the consequences of light pollution and completely neglects the positive aspects of artificial light. The author starts with a history lesson where he juxtaposes modern world to England in 1800. Back in the day, the most populated city in England, London, didn't suffer from light pollution since there
... removing and/or stopping the pollution that is emitted into the air from large refineries or factories. In fact, the essay claims that “Of several techniques to remove pollution during industrial coal combustion, perhaps the most effective is ‘scrubbing,’ in which gases are washed in a desulphurizing bath before going into the atmosphere.” This is informative because it shows that there is a way control acid rain. Similarly, the essay stated many different ways in which everyday people could help control the amount of pollution that is discharged into the air. A solution like carpooling so that the amount of pollutants that are emitted into the air are lowered is just one of the many ways discussed in the essay for society to lower the pollution in the air. The informative way in which Robert Collins presented his idea’s added to the effectiveness of the essay.
For my citizen science project I will be helping to organize and collect data to measure the amount of light pollution that has been seen and growing throughout the years leading to “loss of the night”. No longer are you able to see stars in the sky like you were to hundreds of years ago but rather you are just able to see artificial lights that have, over time, intensified. For this project, I will be collecting visual data as well as computer/phone data. Through an app provided by the starters of the project, I will be taking photos of the sky, particularly at a certain stars to see how much of the night sky has been polluted with lamp designs. Through the data collection, I would be able to pay attention only to certain organisms, phenomena, and data because of the fact that these would be the main factors
As our world becomes increasingly globalized, numerous people travel to urban areas in search of economic prosperity. As a consequence of this cities in periphery countries expand at rates of 4 to 7 percent annually. Many cities offer entrepreneurs the potential for resources, labor, and resources. With prosperity cities also allow the freedom to of a diversity of way of life and manners (Knox & Marston, 2012). However, in the quest to be prosperous, increasing burdens are placed on our health and the condition of our environment. These burdens are amplified as the area is further urbanized; increasing demands for fossilized fuels, food, water, and property for additional urban construction. The impact of industrialization has transformed human life and produced extensive ecological deviations. In order to understand how the environmental impacts of ever expanding industrialized technology might linger to impact our health and that of our environment, offers facts that should be studied. This paper suggests that extra research be conducted to enhance perception concerning advancing modern technology disadvantageous consequences on the safety of humans and their surrounding environment.
Air pollution is caused by many things such as car fumes, burning of fossil fuels,
Pollution is affecting many individuals and life, as we know it. We need to do something about how it’s affecting our world. That’s why I urge the issue that more people should realize that pollution is an issue that needs to be prevented because of its negative consequences. Which are health affects, the total destruction of environments, and the death of animals and plants. More awareness must be brought up amongst the people and they must realize the long-term benefits it has for the world.
Evo Morales stated, “Sooner or later, we will have to recognize that the Earth has rights too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans” (Pollution Quotes, 2013). Hence, attention must be provided to this devastating issue. Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that causes adverse changes (Wieman, 2013). There are numerous types of pollution, such as light, air, land, water, noise, thermal and radioactive pollution. In an article, the author highlighted that according to Richard Buckminster Fuller, “Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting, we allow them to disperse because we’ve been ignorant of their value” (Farrell, 1971, p. 52). Pollution is created mostly by human actions, but can also be a result of natural disasters. Pollution can harm the environment of the world and its inhabitants in many ways. Pollution has a detrimental effect on any living organism in an environment, making it virtually impossible to sustain life (Enclyopedia - Pollution, 2008).
PURPOSE: To persuade my audience that we must take action now to control air pollution
Light pollution happened slowly at first which was several decades ago it was a process that was hardly noticeable. A light here, a light there, burning way into the dark nighttime realm, helping us see in the darkness when people all their our beds fast asleep. The process still continues today, with little thought ever given to what we are stealing away. Our intentions are good but our methods need adjustment, and they needs to be done immediately. In fact, our methods should have been changed years ago, but nearly everyone has resisted, perhaps due to a profound lack of awareness. The use of too many lights at night can cause environmental pollution, known as light pollution. Light pollution can block our ability to see the original shining stars, which can affect people’s discoveries in astronomy. But since the lights are also very important for us at night when we are driving or walking alone on a street, I think there are certainly some solutions for protecting our natural environment while we can also use the lights at the same time. To admire the beautiful stars in the sky instead of looking at it in a picture, we can start to save energy resources by cutting off some unnecessary lights such as commercial building lights, outdoor residential lights, and by using shielded light to reduce the amount of light that we use in certain areas.
Air pollution according to the Wikipedia << is the introduction of particulates, biological materials, or other harmful materials into the Earth’s atmosphere, possibly causing disease, death to humans, damage to other living organisms such as food crops, or the natural or built environment>>. Therefore, human being should be aware of the facts that the environment and all living creatures are dying. They need to understand the importance of natural items, the nature, etc…
With the development of urbanization, an increasing number of social problems have emerged. These problems will decelerate the urban development, however, there are many ways in which sustainable development can reduce the impact of these urbanization problems. “Sustainable development seeks to improve the quality of human life without undermining the quality of our natural environment” (Adams, W.M. 1999). Actually, sustainable development can partly solve the urbanization problems, for it can reduce the impact of the problems such as traffic jam, housing shortage and severe pollution, but it is difficult to completely solve these problems in a short time.
Air pollution is when a poisonous or harmful substance is released into the air. There are many forms of pollution but air is one of them, it only occurs when dust, harmful gases or smoke enters into the atmosphere and makes it hard for species like plants, animals and humans to live in a difficult situation because of the dirty air. Air Pollution is classified in two sections, invisible air pollution and visible air pollution.. Hence any substance that makes it difficult for the living things that need the atmosphere is air pollution. Humans have been undergoing air pollution ever since the industrial revolution.
Visual pollution is referring to the issue of aesthetics, defined as impairing ones ability to enjoy a vista or view (Stapleton). One of the most common causes of visual pollution is capital cities; the huge structures built in a naturally beautiful environment may obstruct the view of your favourite
If a person living in a city living in the city goes out for a walk, they will see that everything is perfect. The air is fresh and the beaches are clean and the sea waters look crystal clear. Even though everything looks right, problem still persists in other parts of the world. A lot of people’s thinking about the environment is confined to their surroundings and where they live, so they do not realize that the environment is in danger because of their actions. What should come into their concern first is that even though everything looks perfect, their community and surroundings are also polluted. In cities, the streets and the parks may be sparkling clean, there is no guarantee that the air is clean. In large cities, megapolises and metropolises, a major mode of transportation are cars. Car usage produces a lot of carbon dioxid...