Light pollution is becoming a growing problem with the globalization of our planet. Otherwise known as skyglow, this term is used for the amount of light that enters into the night sky from artificial light sources- the most prominent of these sources typically come from cities. Through some of my own research for prior projects and papers, I've found that factories, industrial parks, and roadways are also large suppliers of light pollution.
One of the things I noticed about the skyglow in the UK and Ireland is that the seemingly constant cloud cover acts very similarly to a mirror. It sends a lot of the light from earth right back down. As you can see from the map above, with the red color indicating the heaviest amount of light pollution and the black signifying very little to no light pollution, there are very few parts of either of these countries which are not effected by skyglow.
So what does this mean? Yah, sure. You can't see the stars (which should bum you out enough in itself!). But another major issue with light pollution is that it messes with animals' migration patterns and sleep schedules. For example, the other day in Princes Gardens close to Edinburgh Castle, a fox walked within about 6 feet of us sitting on a park bench at 2:30 in the afternoon. While Muk was swearing up and down that the fox was probably rabid, I think that the fox looked to be a little younger than fully adult and had it's days and nights turned around. This is likely due to the light pollution from the city of Edinburgh. (I'll post pictures of this encounter later.)
In terms of the recession though... it would be beneficial to cut back on light pollution since lights require electricity and electricity requires money.
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