Turn off the lights

As a student at Fort Lewis College that came from Salt Lake City, it’s incredible how much damage artificial lighting can do. Growing up in a big city, stars basically didn’t exist. When I’d look up in the sky at night, all I saw was the radiating glow of thousands of streetlights and a dim moonlight. When I came here, I knew it would be different, a small town with a much smaller population, and I was reaffirmed as I looked up my first night in town and was amazed by the amount of stars I could see.

Light pollution is the excess of artificial light, and this causes a few environmental issues, including throwing birds off their migration patterns, destroying breeding habits in animals, sleep deprivation in humans and the lack of stars in our night skies. Birds and their migration patterns are easily thrown off, because when exposed to artificial light, their biological clock is thrown off.

Light pollution also affects the breeding habits of animals, such as the ghost moth. Ghost moths are pollinators, however, they are born with one disadvantage: they don’t have mouths. They live to mate and pollinate and then die. They only mate in the evenings/nighttime, and when the presence of artificial light is there, they feel threatened and won’t breed. This happens with so many species, including many amphibians, slowly dwindling their numbers down.

As for sleep deprivation in humans, it’s the same reason why people tell you to not stare at your phone right before you go to bed. Artificial light messes with your biological clock and either makes it harder to fall asleep or impossible.

You might ask what the solution to light pollution is. It’s as simple as switching off your lights at night. Not only are you going to live a healthier life, but you will save some money.

As for the intrusive streetlights and lights from businesses? Write letters to your representatives explaining why this is an issue you care about and why they should, too. Not every form of pollution is an easy fix, but light pollution is just a flick of a switch away from being solved.

– Jake Schafer, Durango