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Light pollution is altering plant and animal behaviour
March 27, 2018 by Gareth Willmer, From Horizon Magazine, Horizon: The EU Research & Innovation Magazine
"The negative consequences of light pollution are as unknown by the population as those of smoking in the (19)80s," said Prof. Corcho. "It's still a very difficult problem to understand. Light pollution does not have the same immediate effects over animals as other forms of pollution."
Regulation
Prof. Corcho said that one of STARS4ALL's main aims this year is to run a petition on its website to ask for more overarching regulation to avoid light pollution at an EU level. STARS4ALL will collect signatures from citizens and hopes to present the petition in Brussels by the end of the year.
He says the good news is that there are easy fixes. "There are good technology options. For instance, there are types of lamps that could be used that are both respectful to the environment in terms of light pollution and at the same time as energy-efficient as white LEDs." He cites PC amber LEDs, for example.
If we move to solve these issues, there might well be an added bonus for us all. "As an indirect result… our recommendations for public lighting may result in having more populated places where we can see more and more stars in our sky," said Prof. Corcho.
"The negative consequences of light pollution are as unknown by the population as those of smoking in the (19)80s," said Prof. Corcho. "It's still a very difficult problem to understand. Light pollution does not have the same immediate effects over animals as other forms of pollution."
Regulation
Prof. Corcho said that one of STARS4ALL's main aims this year is to run a petition on its website to ask for more overarching regulation to avoid light pollution at an EU level. STARS4ALL will collect signatures from citizens and hopes to present the petition in Brussels by the end of the year.
He says the good news is that there are easy fixes. "There are good technology options. For instance, there are types of lamps that could be used that are both respectful to the environment in terms of light pollution and at the same time as energy-efficient as white LEDs." He cites PC amber LEDs, for example.
If we move to solve these issues, there might well be an added bonus for us all. "As an indirect result… our recommendations for public lighting may result in having more populated places where we can see more and more stars in our sky," said Prof. Corcho.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-03-pollution-animal-behaviour.html#jCp
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