Light Pollution – How can you help?

Too much light or inappropriate lighting can have serious effects on people and the environment. Light pollution is a common term referring to artificial light that shines where it is neither wanted nor needed.

It can mean:
• Sleep deprivation due to light intrusion into homes. As humans, we too adhere to a circadian rhythm (our biological clock that is governed by the day-night cycle). Too much artificial light at night can disrupt that cycle making it difficult for us to sleep well.
• An increase in instances of poor mental health.
• An increase in energy bills and CO2 output from your home.
• Detrimental effects on wildlife by impairing migratory routes and mating conditions leading to a decrease in population. Artificial light can cause birds that migrate or hunt at night to wander off course, or to migrate too early or too late and miss ideal conditions for nesting and foraging.

This doesn’t mean we want you to turn out the lights! Here is what you can do to help the skies and save yourself money:
• Switch to low wattage bulbs inside your home (50w and below)
• Use warm, white lights (look for 3000 Kelvin and under)
• Switch off lights that are not in use
• Use motion sensors on external lighting to reduce the amount of time they are on
• Shield or tilt external lights downwards so light doesn’t escape into the sky above
• Consider using low wattage bulbs in outside lights