Light Pollution

Imagine you are by the ocean. You can hear the roaring of the surf, the distant scream of the seagulls as they settle in for the night, you run your hands through the soft grains of sand and smell the salty breeze. The sun has just set, and the moon and stars are shining bright tonight, reflecting their light on the ripples of waves just beginning to form in the distance. Suddenly the streetlamps in the town flicker on. They are bright and startling, the houses turn on their porch lights, bathing the whole town in a bright glow. Little do you know that these lights are deadly.

Every year thousands of sea turtles lay their eggs on the sandy shores of beaches. Every year up to 100 baby turtles emerge from each of these nests. Turtles are born anywhere between the late months of winter to the late months of autumn. They are born with one important instinct: Follow the brightest light. This light is supposed to be the moon and stars, which hangs over the ocean, guiding the babies to their new home. As of recent years, however, the brightest lights around have not been the moon or stars. They have been the blinding street lamps, they have been the porch lights. The baby sea turtles turn away from the moon and therefore away from their homes. Most will die before they even reach the tall lamp posts. The rest will be hit by cars or eaten by non-natural predators.

Light pollution is a very big problem for the sea turtle population, especially in beach areas. It is estimated by NOAA that out of 1,000 sea turtles only 1 will survive the perilous journey to adulthood. With light pollution even less will make it.

What can you do? One of the things you can do to help baby sea turtles find their way into the water is to turn off lights that aren’t necessary. This does not mean turn off lights that are vital to safety, instead it means to turn off lights you aren’t using. For example if you don’t need to use your patio one night, turn off your porch lights, or use a lamp to read at night instead of your ceiling light. Another solution is to dim the lights so that they aren’t as bright, you can also use a more orange tint of lighting because these tend to be dimmer than white lights. Work with your town or city to help dim streetlamps during hatching season so that humans and turtles can both stay safe. Another way to help is to purchase automatic lighting for outside. These lights are motion sensored, so that if a human is outside, the light will turn on but if they go inside, the light will shut off, this way you aren’t using lights when you don’t need them

It may be surprise you but birds are also affected by light pollution. When birds migrate – especially smaller birds – they have to take breaks to refuel and rest. They fly during the night and then stop to eat during the day. In the past century we have used radar to help us track birds in the air during their migration, this helps us see what migration paths these birds use. Since these birds fly at night they tend to be attracted and confused by artificial light from brightly lit places like cities. These lights cause birds to wander off their migration routes. Then when it is time for the birds to eat and get enough energy for more flight they find themselves in an urban area instead of their normal migration route habitat. This makes it harder for birds to find food and makes the already difficult journey even more strenuous. Birds can also crash into these light sources killing or injuring them.

To reduce artificial light at night and therefore save millions of migrating birds we can do a few things to help. First you can orient all lights downwards. This means that lights are facing the ground instead of illuminating the sky. This is especially important for street lamps and porch lights, because they can still keep us safe by showing us light but not the migrating birds. Next you can make lights less intense. This is important with billboards and other lights that are bright colors, flashing, or just intense in general. Help your city become aware of light pollution so that better choices can be made for these birds. Lastly, you can switch off lights when they aren’t needed. This just reduces how many lights are on at once, dimming our light pollution even more!

It is important to educate yourself and others about light pollution. If more people are aware, more animals and electricity can be saved. We encourage you to talk about these issues with neighbors, friends and family so that we can have a light friendly earth for all living creatures. If you would like to dive even further into light pollution check out these amazing sources and resources that helped inspire this article!

Amazing Sources and Resources:

Light pollution and migratory birds

UD explores how light pollution affects migrating birds

Light Pollution Harms Sea Turtles