Rajat K R

The Next Big Pollution

There is a pollution that is silently causing serious harm to the environment. Read more to find out!

What is this pollution?

These days almost everything is, in one way or the other polluted. When people are busy protesting on saving water and global warming, there is one that is being neglected, one that requires quick action. I am talking about light pollution. It is the next big challenge the world is going to face.

In the olden days the skies were more darker and the stars were more visible. The night skies in the past inspired many authors, scientists and artists to come up with new things. But because of light pollution everything has changed. These days skies are not as a dark as they used to be and it is very difficult to spot a real star. Because of light pollution astronomy has been hugely affected and the lives of living organisms in and off the sky are being affected. It largely affects human and animal behaviour.

Light pollution brightens the sky over a town near Acadia. NPS Photo/Josh Cosgrove

Light pollution is caused by the inappropriate/excessive use of artificial light. It affects astronomy, animals and human behaviour. It mostly affects the migratory birds since they fly following the light from the moon but because of the light pollution, these rids often get misled by following the artificial lights from shops and malls. Because of the over usage of lights, the night skies are getting brighter and it is slowly changing the ecosystem of the earth.

What can you do to prevent light pollution?

  • Turn off lights when they are not needed, this will help you reduce light pollution and also save electricity 😉.
  • Don’t keep lights in places where they are not required.
  • In the night time make sure to close the window blinds when the light is ON in the room. So that light won’t emit to the night sky.
  • In the night time people must close their window blinds when the light is ON in the room. So that light won’t emit to the night sky.
  • When placing lights outside make sure to put cups so that the light won’t emit to the night sky directly.

Light pollution is dangerous, it requires quick action. Make sure that you do your part by following these rules and sharing this article to spread awareness on Light Pollution, just remember what they say - “Prevention is better than cure”.

That’s it for now,

Thanks for reading,

Stay Home Stay Safe and 👋🏻.

-Rajat KR