Quality of Light Affects Quality of Life
Light pollution affects the lives of people around the world. It comes in a variety of forms and can be a nuisance, wasteful, and harmful. It may be a street light shining in a window, a high energy bill, or the absence of stars in the sky. Light pollution is a growing problem as human populations continue to thrive, land is increasingly developed, and Earth’s precious resources are consumed. In order to reduce current levels of light pollution and to keep the problem from escalating out of control, action must take place.
Common consequences of light pollution have been named, defined, and are now synonymous with the term “light pollution”. Light trespass occurs when a neighbor’s lighting crosses property lines. Skyglow is the light seen in the sky even on the clearest of nights, blocking the view of the stars. Glare is one of the most common problems caused by bright and poorly aimed light, resulting in discomfort of the eyes. Quantifying these terms and researching at which points they become problematic will play an important role in creating and enforcing light related laws.
Light pollution does not just cause inconvenience, it can cause physical illness. Many people, especially those that live in apartments, dorms, or other large housing units, are unable to sleep in complete darkness. Bright lights that are poorly aimed can enter the windows of bedrooms, even through curtains. This results in reduced production of melatonin, a hormone generated in darkness that is responsible for feelings of alertness and sleepiness. Current research on melatonin is testing possible benefits of the hormone such as reducing the risk of cancer. In addition, lack of sleep can c...
... middle of paper ...
...its will be higher quality sleep and reduced stress. Light pollution is a large problem in our world, but with education, creativity, and persistence it can be addressed and solved.
Resources
Environmental and Social Consequences of Artificial Lighting Course Syllabus
http://www.du.edu/~rstencel/hnrs2403.htm
International Dark Sky Lighting Code Handbook V1.14 Sep 2002
http://www.darksky.org/ordsregs/lchintro.html
Mizon, Bob. Light Pollution: Responses and Remedies. Springer-Verlag London Limited. 2002
Audubon Society “Decreasing Light Impacts.”
http://www.audubon.org/bird/at_home/SafeImpact.html
National Sleep Foundation. “Melatonin: The Basic Facts. June 2004.
http://www.sleepfoundation.org/publications/melatoninthefact.cfm
DeNoon, Daniel. “Hormons Melatonin Slows Breast Cancer” July 2003.
http://my.webmd.com/content/article/71/81159.htm
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
Chronic sleep loss is becoming more common in modern culture and less restricted to sleep-deprived diseases such as insomnia. Suggested to be the result of a number car, industrial, medical, and other occupational accidents, sleep deprivation is beginning to be recognized as a public concern. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control
In this statement, Bogard explains that the loss of natural darkness is not only impacting us humans but also to those other living among us. This sends a message of the deep importance of darkness, which is extremely necessary for these species to survive, as well as do their service to society by providing pest control on farms. Then he concludes his point by saying that “ecological light pollution is like a bulldozer of the night, wreaking habitat and disrupting ecosystems several billion years in the making.” Here, he uses scientific facts to back up his argument that natural darkness is key to nature and ecology, and by removing natural darkness would eventually destroy the ecology which took billions of years to develop. The author makes keen use of rhetorical questions in his article to persuade his audience that natural darkness is crucial.
According to Wilson (2005), sleep deprivation can cause not only traffic accidents, but also medical conditions such as: obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabo...
"Sleep disorders appear to be a global epidemic, affecting up to 45% of the world's population" (Noor, et al n.p.). That’s leaving a 55% chunk of the world’s population not affected. More than 70 million people in our nation experience sleep disorders, most of whom are unaware of the impact on their daily life (Wells,Vaughn 234). Due to a large portion of people being unaware of sleep disorders’ impaction, the number continuously increases. Major sleep disorders are known to be Rapid Eye Movement(REM), Insomnia, and Obstructive Sleep Apnea(OSA). Over 80 medically recognized sleep disorders exist with insomnia, sleep apnea, snoring, jet lag, shift work, sleepwalking and restless legs syndrome being some of the most common (Wells, Vaughn 234). "Poor sleep in the general population has been shown to have a significant impact on daily function, including considerable daytime cognition dysfunction, decreased ability to accomplish daily tasks, diminished sense of success and achievement, depressed mood, and reduced enjoyment of interpersonal relationships" (Andrews, Strong n.p. 500). Sleep disorders affect a large portion of society, leading people to have a daily lifestyle of drowsiness, stress and poor productivity; treatment has increased as more people become aware of sleep disorders.
capture the full effect of light during this short period of the day with the study
Pollution is a massive problem, due to burning excessive amounts of fossil fuels and produces global warming. The rising in temperature of earth has resulted huge melting of polar ice caps, flooding of low-lying areas, and also rise in sea levels. If these conditions conquer the surface of earth it will face radical changes. Hence, the ozone holes are also being created trough this process, that creates a harmful UV rays that enters the earth surface. Apparently it affect human life trough causing diseases like cancer. Melanin that present in the skin reacts trough these high wave radiations. Skin cancer is one of the major forms of disease that known to be caused due to these reactions of the pigment present in the skin and infra-red rays. Besides that, when burnt sulphur, dioxide gas will also be produced. This factor forms acid rain. Acid rain could leads to destructions of most of monuments that were made up of brickwork or marbles. Even a lot of crops are affected due to the acidification of loams.
A common argument made against standard time is that daylight savings time prevents road accidents because of the abundance of natural light at times that most people drive. However, is it worth it to disrupt the circadian rhythm so that drivers have more natural light? The governments have implemented lighted highways and roads and cars are equipped with headlights to aid in vision. While lighted highways consume energy, the claim that daylight savings time contributes to less energy consumption is contradicted by research efforts. Indiana did not adopt daylight savings time until 2006, thus making it the perfect environment for a study on the correlation of energy consumption and daylight savings time. According to Brian Handwerk, the “lighting demand dropped, but the warmer hour of extra daylight tacked onto each evening led to more air-conditioning use, which canceled out the gains from reduced lighting and then some.” Along with this study, researchers have argued that energy consumption may be lower in the evening, but consumption goes up in the dark mornings thus making the results equal. According to another study conducted by Hendrik Wolff, everywhere that has air conditioning takes a loss in regards to daylight savings time. In the long run, day light savings time does not have a significant impact on energy consumption thus being
Air lite, for example, represents an eco-friendly technology advance by purifying the air around working like leaves on the trees, eliminating bacteria, mold, and functioning as a filter that eliminates toxic substances. It also reduces the energy consumption in about a 15-50% as it reflects the hot component of sunlight, avoiding that rooms overheat (EASME, 2017).
Sleeping is something that is an essential part of human nature and is a must in order for one to be a functional human being. Sleep is an idea that is accompanied by many wives’ tales, including the idea that one needs seven to eight hours of sleep each night and alcohol helps one fall asleep and sleep more soundly. One myth about sleep is that during sleep, one is in a state of nothingness. In truth, however, it has been discovered that during sleep the brain is active, variations in heartbeat and breathing occur, and the eyes and ears are active throughout the time of sleep. These activities during a person’s sleep are important because they help that person be more aware, awake, and alert during sleep.
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.
Have you ever stayed up too late? At one time or another most people have probably experienced that feeling where their eyes start to droop and blur. It’s their body telling them they need to sleep… But do they? Many people might think losing a night’s sleep or not sleeping enough is not a big deal, but in fact, continuously lacking sleep does affect people in a bad way. People should know the healthy amount of sleep they need and some solutions to sleeping problems. Sleep deprivation causes physical and mental effects on the human body and can be directly responsible for many fatal accidents.
Important public policy issues have arisen in our modern 24-hour society, where it is crucial to weigh the value of sleep versus wakefulness. Scientific knowledge about sleep is currently insufficient to resolve the political and academic debates raging about how much and when people should sleep. These issues affect almost everybody, from the shift worker to the international traveler, from the physician to the policy maker, from the anthropologist to the student preparing for an exam.
Now when people go to bed they stay awake to look at their social media applications on their phones while lying in bed. This can cause sleep deprivation because you are up later reading about other people’s day. The light from the phone also causes your brain to not shut off for the night as easily. It has been suggested that exposure to bright lights at the wrong time of the day can alter circadian rhythm sleep with insomnia and excessive sleepiness (Wolniczak, Cacerer-DelAguila, Palma-Ardiles, Arroyo, Solis-Visscher, Peredes-Yairi, Mego-Antonio, Pernabe-Ortiz 3). Many hours of sleep per week are lost due to social media, which in turn also decreases productivity at