yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Light Pollution 101 | National Geographic


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

  • [Narrator] The invention of the electric light bulb, 150 years ago, was one of the most transformative milestones in history. This new form of light, artificial light, brightened and made safe once-dark streets, prolonged waking hours into the evening, and brought electricity into homes for the very first time.

Today, this glow has grown, but at a cost. Light pollution is the over-illumination of cities and night skies by artificial lighting. It's caused by the abundance of light sources emitting light outside of an intended direction. Several types of light pollution exist, including glare, which is a disruptive light that shines horizontally, light trespass, the unwanted shining of light onto nearby areas, and sky glow, a halo over inhabited areas caused by the scattering of light particles.

No matter what form light pollution takes, each can have unintended, yet harmful impacts. Wildlife, particularly sea turtles, have had their nocturnal patterns disrupted. The turtle hatchling's instinct to follow the light of the moon in order to reach the sea is intercepted by the light of inland cities. Because of this, many never find their way to the ocean.

Human's well being is also compromised by light pollution. The excess light can overwhelm photoreceptor cells in the retina, damaging one's eyesight. Plus, it disrupts natural sleep cycles, and causes sleep deprivation, leading to a number of health problems, possibly including cancer.

Light pollution also results in the production of additional carbon emissions. Each year, potentially billions of dollars worth of coal or oil, which are burned to produce electricity, are wasted on unnecessary light. Over the past several decades, light pollution in North America has increased an estimated 6 to 10% each year. A rise fueled by growing populations, greater access to electricity, and increased urban development.

Efforts have been made to help counter this rise in excess light, including the development of alternative energy-efficient light bulbs and smarter directional lighting designs. These and other innovations will continue to refine this 150-year-old technology, artificial light, and optimize it for a brighter future.

(light switch clicks)

More Articles

View All
How To Become A Metaverse Millionaire In ONE Year (My Plan)
The best way to understand the metaverse is to experience it yourself. Alright, so let’s talk about the metaverse because this could be big, not only as a way to make a lot of money but also in terms of how all of our future experiences could be right her…
Michael Reeves Just Ruined Investing
Hey guys, so we gotta have a serious talk. Just recently, Michael Reeves made a complete mockery of the entire finance community by using a stock-picking goldfish to beat the market, and it worked! Somehow, the guy who builds beer-peeing robots was able …
How To Turn $25,000 Into A Substantial Return In Real Estate | FT. Scott McGillivray
If you’re an investor and you’re trying to save for retirement, you would put about 50% into stocks and 50% into bonds. But we’re in a very dislocated story about fixed income now. I’ve taken my commercial real estate position from 31% of my portfolio—tha…
Writing arithmetic series in sigma notation
What I want to do in this video is get some practice writing Series in Sigma notation, and I have a series in front of us right over here. We have seven plus nine plus eleven, and we keep on adding all the way up to four hundred five. So first, let’s jus…
Ancient Egypt's Celebration of the Dead | Lost Treasures of Egypt
[cow mooing] NARRATOR: Each year after the harvest, the people of Thebes held a celebration of the dead called the “Beautiful Festival of the Valley.” They carried statues of Thebes’ three main gods in a grand procession out of Karnak temple east of the …
Addition and subtraction with number lines | 2nd grade | Khan Academy
[Voiceover] Which number line shows 47 plus 22? Let’s see, in this first number line we’re starting at 47, then we add 20 to get to 67. And then we add two to get to 69. So if you add 20, and then you’re adding two, you’re adding 22. So this one seems r…