Opinion

Don’t Be Blind to How Bright

Our Lights Are
By Katharine Costello
Future Environmental Engineer

Nov. 7, 2019

Have you ever found yourself questioning why cities are so bright at night? With that, have you
ever thought about the impacts that streetlights have on the environment, the economy, and your
own, personal well-being?

Well, I have spent countless hours awake in the middle of the night doing so myself. It is far too
bright where I live (on the outskirts of Philadelphia) to sleep. The pink hue outside my window is
a light I have no power to turn out before going to bed— and this is something that pains me to
my core.
If you don’t relate, do not feel awkward or ashamed. And if you are confused, hopefully I can
help educate you on this issue. Most people do not contemplate these ideas often and are
uneducated about the issues resulting from light pollution. Light pollution is defined as “artificial
skylight (as from city lights) that interferes especially with astronomical observations.” The
unnatural lights are harming nature in many ways such as disturbing nocturnal wildlife and
showing damage to plantlife. Additionally, humans’ exposure to light pollution has been linked
to poor health as it increases rates of obesity, cancer, depression, stress, anxiety, and sleeping
disorders.

Unfortunately, despite all of the negative impacts of light pollution, little action is being taken on
the subject matter. This does not make sense as there are many different approaches to solving
this problem. Some suggest enforcing lights-off policies from 12AM to dawn, but this has a lot
of pushback from community members. Shutting off lights completely make people feel unsafe.
Although people may claim they feel unsafe if there were no street lights among the road to
brighten up the streets, they do not realize the tremendous effect the lights actually have on their
life; putting them in true danger.

As cities and towns have become more developed, the number of streetlights has increased and
so have the number of correlating issues. Because of this, I believe that actions should be taken
and compromises should be made. Reducing the amount of light pollution does not have to be a
daunting task.

Since protection from the darkness is such a concern to the people yet there is such a danger to
not only human health but the environment, there is a simple fix to make everyone happy- cities
should be required to use LED bulbs in their streetlights and add cutoffs to the tops of lampposts.

I would like to bring the issue of light pollution produced from street lights to the attention of
urban area councils. They should be concerned by the negative impacts of light pollution and
change their street lighting fixtures. It should be enforced that they all run on LED lights and
have cutoffs that direct the light to only the areas it is needed.

LED streetlights are so efficient, especially compared to the high-pressure sodium bulbs that are
most frequently used for streetlights currently. They get the job done and allow councils to save
millions per year. Additionally, it has been “found that people feel even safer with the white light
from LED lighting, compared to the yellow tints of the old sodium lamps.” Cutoffs on the new
fixtures should also be required as they eliminate the abundance of light trespass, or instances
where light spills into areas where it is unneeded. By focusing the light on to the actual objects
and areas that people want illuminated, less light pollution will affect the night sky. (The
infographic shown below illustrates the difference between street lights without cutoffs and with
cutoffs are shown.)

Although some are weary about the price of switching to LED streetlights and installing new
fixtures, the benefits far outway the one-time cost. “The project will pay for itself — at a
minimum it will be financeable over 20 years, potentially sooner than that.” And some fixtures,
depending on what different communities choose, allow “operators to dim the lights after
midnight to save money or to crank them up to full brightness to assist responders during a
police or fire emergency.”

Overall, light pollution is not only jeopardizing the health of nature, but humans too.
Approximately one third of all lighting in the United States is unnecessarily wasted. But, it is not
too late to make changes. Cities can modify their streetlights by using more energy efficient
bulbs and adding cutoffs to direct light where it is needed.

Policymakers, you should feel guilty about the lack of effort done to fix the issues that come
along with light pollution and fearful of a future without any change. The insane amount of
inefficient, poorly targeted outdoor lighting used at night is completely unnecessary. It does not
make any sense economically or morally as extensive amounts of energy are wasted to create
light that is not even needed.

But, it’s never too late to begin change. Use the authority you have to make a positive impact on
not only your community, but the planet as a whole. You can advance the economic standings of
your communities and make your constituents feel safer; mandate the installation of new lighting
fixtures with LED light.
 Works Cited

“Switched On: An in-Depth Look at Street Lights within Communities.” Bright Ideas from LED
Hut, 29 Apr. 2019,
www.ledhut.co.uk/blog/switched-on-an-in-depth-look-at-street-lights-within-communities/.

St, Nicholas. “Illuminating the Effects of Light Pollution.” The New York Times, The New York
Times, 7 Apr. 2016,
www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/07/science/light-pollution-effects-environment.html.

Maykuth, Andrew. “Philly to Switch All 100,000 Streetlights to 'Smart' LEDs; Expect Some
Debate.” Https://Www.inquirer.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 22 Aug. 2019,
www.inquirer.com/business/philadelphia-streetlight-conversion-smart-led-savings-20190822.html.

Robinson, Calvin. “People Can Pay to Have Street Lights Back On.” Lincolnshire Reporter People
Can Pay to Have Street Lights Back on Comments, The Lincolnite, 28 Sept. 2018,
lincolnshirereporter.co.uk/2018/09/people-can-pay-to-have-street-lights-back-on/.

“Light Pollution.” International Dark-Sky Association, 14 Feb. 2017,

www.darksky.org/light-pollution/.