Have you ever looked up to the sky in the middle of nowhere… and seen  the beautiful shining stars? A lot of people have, and go into the middle of  nowhere (like a desert) to camp at night and go star gazing because where  they live they are not able to see stars. This is not usually because of dense  clouds and smog, or lots of air traffic. But those are other issues. A big  reason for having to leave cities to see stars is light pollution.

 Light pollution is a result of artificial lighting. Street lamps, lighted signs, and decorative lighting all shine up and outward into the night blending and blocking the view of the stars. But not just being able to see stars isn’t the only problem, birds have trouble migrating because of the light pollution. The birds get confused with the bright lights and fly into buildings.

Another issue is the leatherback sea turtle going to the wrong area to lay her eggs. Normally the turtles swim towards the sun, seeing the glow near the water but now they often mistake popular beach resorts lights for the sun. But, they will still lay their eggs on that beach, resulting in stray hatchlings getting eaten by predators or run over by cars. Even worse, leatherbacks are endangered!

Light pollution is easily exterminated and many places have cut off unnecessary lights or even controlled the light focus downward with new types of lamps. For example, in Florida, many street lamps are shaped like upside down bowls. They use light bulbs that give off a yellowish light, instead of bright white. These bulbs are made out of high pressure sodium. In St. Louis, the arch lights are shut off when there is heavy fog to multiply the light or when there are birds migrating.

There are many things that you can do to fight light pollution. You can make sure that your porch light is tucked into the ceiling, rather than sticking out and giving off light in ever direction. You can also turn off unnecessary lights outside. Porch lights don’t need to be on all night. You can also work with your local government to turn streetlights off time from 11 pm – 3 am in residential areas.