When did you last see a clear, dark starry night emanating its own mysterious lights? If you
are an urban dweller then chances are that this privilege has been denied to you. Or you can belong to a more fortunate category who still visit villages miles away from the shining cities.Welcome to the urban lifestyle resplendent with all kinds of lights that come to life as the dusk gives way to the evening. Lighting is nothing less than a phenomenon in the urban life. The glittering skyscrapers, the street lights, the flood lights, the spectaculars and glitzy hoardings and many more fill up the darkness in all their glory.

I remember once passing a soft iron company where every nook and cranny was illuminated with lights without shades. No doubt it looked very attractive standing against the dark sky but such attractive sights come at a price.
The natural resources are amongst the most coveted commodities today. Even developing countries have not shied away from sending missions in the space to stake a claim in the natural resources beyond the boundaries of the earth.
However, precious few treat darkness as a natural resource. Darkness is treated as a hostile invader and we do everything in our power to defeat it. The real problem is not using lights but that we overdo it without realizing the consequences and may cases by ignoring the same.
In scientific parlance, this violation of darkness is light pollution. It is caused by the glare and spill over effects from powerful lights devoid of shades. Lights from these sources form a light dome over the city and prevent the natural light from reaching us. Light pollution has been a constant complaint of the astronomers and amateur star gazers alike. The problem was first noticed in 1980s when the telescope atop Mt. Wilson in San Diego no longer produced the desired results due to light pollution.
The artificial lighting causes a blockade for the faint light objects such as the milky way, nebula and other galaxies. And it’s not just the star gazers and the astronomers who are affected by light pollution. It affects a range of life forms in the ecosystem form insects to human beings.
Our vision is adversely affected when continuously exposed to the glare that the modern lights produce. Our capability to see in the dark is being impaired by this day by day. Studies also indicate that light pollution reduces the production of melatonin in body leading to breast cancer. The wildlife is also a prey to it. For instance, light pollution has led to some very disastrous results for migratory birds and sea turtles. According to a report published in National Geographic, more than 50,000 birds died at the Warner Robin Air Force Base in Georgia on two consecutive nights while passing the area in the year 1954. If this was the case in 1954, then one can imagine the level of threat today.
The plight of birds is not hard to imagine. Suppose you are walking down a dark road with only the natural light to guide you and suddenly a heavy vehicle with glaring headlights emerge from one of the lanes.
What is your immediate reaction? If even just for a moment any person will get confused due to loss of visibility. The birds are not lucky enough to recover the onslaught of lights like the human beings.
They are used to fly guided by the natural light of the horizon and the night sky. When they come across heavily lit buildings, they tend to get confused. In such instances, birds collide again and again with the building until they collapse. The sea turtles are also guided by the light of the horizon to return to the sea once they hatch. But, they are confused to the artificial lights on the beach and often loose their track leading to fatal results. Almost all the modern cities have fallen victim to this form of pollution. In the past few decades it has acquired hazardous proportions. This has lead to a global survey to map the spread of light pollution with the help of star gazers. As reported by Cosmos magazine, the project has been named as Great World Wide Star Count. It will pool observations by citizens around the world.
Light pollution can be mitigated to a certain extent by cutting down on excessive lighting and using lights with shades are some of these. The lights should be used to illuminate the grounds and not the skies as it serves no purpose at all.
Conscious attempts are all that is required to curb this growing menace. Next time be sure to use the lights only when required and check out for any spill overs that can prove to be hazardous to the environment.

Anumeha Verma is MS in
Communication
Alumnus, Class of 2007 – 2008.
She is currently working as a
Corporate Communication
Executive in Bangalore.