In many urban areas, a potentially serious environmental problem lurks in office buildings, along busy streets, and even among quiet, residential neighborhoods. It has destroyed ecosystems and wasted energy all across the globe, from Chicago to Paris, but the source of this threat, invented by Thomas Edison, seems unlikely — light.

Light pollution is a largely unknown, but problematic issue. The International Dark Sky Association defines light pollution as “any adverse effect of artificial light.” This pollution, always present in large cities throughout the world, affects people, wildlife and even plants — along with marring the natural beauty of the night sky.

The pollution itself can take on many different forms, but the most common are over-illumination and sky glow. Over-illumination is the excessive use of light and occurs nightly in urban areas. Sky glow is responsible for the pinkish night sky in overpopulated areas and the reason why there seem to be more stars in the countryside than in the city.

Light pollution can also come in the form of glare, resulting from contrast between bright and dark areas.

Light pollution arises from a myriad of sources, but is especially prevalent in urban areas in the United States, Europe and Japan. Some common city sights, such as lighted advertisements, sports venues and office buildings, are prime suspects in the crime of light pollution against the environment. But light pollution is not limited to urban areas. Almost any amount of excess light can cause damage, depending on the characteristics of the particular environment.

Probably the most obvious effect of light pollution comes with the energy wasted when lights are left on all night. Lighting consumes one-fourth of all energy wasted in the world, according to New York City Audubon. This is true even though the majority of lights left on during the night are unnecessary; that is, they are turned on for show in office buildings and even in residential districts to make the areas more picturesque.
Street lights can even be a problem. The Campaign for Dark Skies, a subset of the British Astronomical Association, reports that street lights alone are responsible for 830,000 tons of carbon dioxide pollution every year.

Light pollution is also responsible for the disruption of ecosystems and animal patterns. Not only does it affect nocturnal animals, but also a wide range of daytime animals depending on the region in which the pollution occurs.

In lake areas, light pollution is responsible for preventing zooplankton from eating surface algae, which in turn can lower the lake’s quality and kill off the lake’s plants. On land, light interferes with the ability of nocturnal insects to navigate, which causes species death in night-blooming flowers that depend on moths for pollination, according to the International Dark Sky Association.

Urban areas devote most of their light pollution research on migrating birds. Since birds steer by the stars, light pollution disrupts migratory habits, especially in sprawling, large cities like New York City. The International Dark Sky Association reveals that lighted towers and tall buildings attract birds and entice them to circle the structures until they eventually die of exhaustion.

In cities built on lakefronts, such as Chicago, early morning light in smaller buildings causes birds to fly right into the lights as they are heading into shore. “Studies have shown you can correlate the number of bird deaths with the amount of light in early morning hours,” said Judy Pollock, director of bird conservation for the Chicago Audubon.

With new research on the disruption of migratory birds also comes programs to stem the devastation of light pollution. Two American cities at the forefront of conservation strategies are Chicago and New York City.

Chicago holds the status as being the first U.S. city to dim tall building lights during migratory periods to save birds’ lives. Awareness of the problem began with the tremendous amount of bird deaths that occurred after the John Hancock building was constructed in 1969.

Chicago’s program, Lights Out, was initiated formally in 1999, when the city partnered with the National Audubon Society. For five months out of the year, building owners are asked to dim their decorative lighting to provide safety for migrating birds, and so far Chicagoans have been cooperative. Chicago Audubon is expanding the program this year by attempting to reach out to more people. One aspect of the expansion involves sending information in different languages to all building owners in office buildings and residences.

In 1997, New York City initiated a project called Safe Light to focus on protecting migratory birds. In 2005, the program expanded to include research and efforts to fix problematic buildings, modeled after Chicago’s Lights Out program and a similar one in Toronto. In New York, the effort would have been a “win-win situation,” according to Yigal Gelb, the program director, “even if not one bird was saved” because of the effect light pollution has on energy and mercury emissions in the atmosphere, which eventually find their way into birds, fish and animals.

The program runs from September to October and from April to May and encourages the city population to reduce the amount of light they emit, both in the downtown area and in the suburbs. Although the program in Chicago is more widely known, the end result of both programs is a decrease in migratory bird deaths and energy loss.

Aside from programs in individual cities, many independent organizations have formed to combat the forces of light pollution. The most prevalent is the International Dark Sky Association.

Began in 1987 by David Crawford and a group of astronomers concerned about the level of light emissions interfering with their work, the association grew to an international organization with more than 11,000 members in 70 countries. The International Dark Sky Association works with community groups, the government and the lighting industry to improve fixtures to make them more light, cost and energy efficient, but is primarily an educational organization.

In 2001, the association named Flagstaff the World’s First International Dark Sky City based on a comprehensive lighting code, a commitment to quality lighting, support for the organization and success in light pollution control. No cities have been given the same title.

Light pollution is relatively unknown to humans, but it is a lethal problem to many species of plants and animals. But as cities such as Chicago and New York have demonstrated, there are solutions if one recognizes the problem and makes an effort to turn off the lights.

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Amanda Peterka is a sophomore studying journalism at MSU. This is her first appearance in EJ. Reach Amanda at peterkaa@msu.edu.