podcast final

This podcast episode discusses the issue of light pollution and its impact on human health, wildlife, and the environment. It explores how artificial light at night affects our circadian rhythm and increases the risk of sleep disorders, depression, obesity, and heart disease. It also delves into the negative effects of light pollution on sea turtles and coral reefs, as well as its disruption of plant pollination. The episode emphasizes the need to be more conscious of our use of artificial light and suggests ways to reduce light pollution, such as installing motion-sensitive lighting and using low-watt bulbs. Welcome to Beyond the Glow, the podcast that shines a light on a topic that is often overlooked, light pollution. I am Anna Haag, and in this series, we will be delving into the fascinating world of artificial light and its unintended consequences. Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered why you haven't seen as many stars as your grandparents once did? Or have you ever noticed the orange haze that blankets our cities after dark? Well, you're not alone. In this podcast, we're going to explore the intricate web of issues surrounding light pollution, from its impact on our health and environment to the diminishing wonders of a starry night. But it's not all doom and gloom. We will also discover the efforts being made to reclaim our view of the cosmos, and the technological advances combating excessive light, and how individuals like you can make a difference. So let's buckle up as we embark on a journey beyond the glow, where we will discover the hidden world of light pollution, its effect on our lives, and the ways we can bring back the beauty of the night sky. Light is something that helps us in so many ways. Scientific research suggests that light pollution can have lasting adverse effects on both human and wildlife health. Human health is commonly overlooked in the US. Something a lot of people do not know is that artificial light at night is terrible for our health. In this day and age, it feels like it's impossible to avoid. We are at an increased risk for things like sleep disorders, depression, obesity, and heart disease. I don't know about you, but if I'm on my phone right before I go to bed, I do not get the best sleep. This is the greatest thing that artificial light affects, our circadian rhythm. According to the AMA, this is a biological clock that is a sleep-wake pattern. Not only is light directly in our faces, but have you seen a halo over urban areas at night? Well, this is called sky glow. Do you have lights lining your walkway, string lights above your desk, or glowing rocks in your garden? LEDs have become a common outdoor lighting. According to Jefferson Health, this is a big problem, contributing to the excess light at night. Not only does light pollution affect humans, it also affects animals. I looked into depth with sea turtles and birds. Sea turtles are nocturnal animals, and they are the most affected due to their use of vision and acute hearing to adapt to the night. They are one of the most affected species in coastal areas. When baby sea turtles hatch, they use the light of the moon to find their way to the ocean. But now the artificial light is stronger than natural light, making the hatchlings disoriented. According to an article in NCBI, the human population on the coast is increasing at a higher rate than anyone else. Now sea turtles are severely affected, not just their hatchlings. The artificial light affects their nesting success and increases egg predation. The fate of sea turtles is intertwined with our own actions. We need to continue to explore the issues that are caused by light pollution. Now, I know I talked a lot about sea turtles, but nocturnal animals in general are being mainly affected by this. Light pollution radically alters their nighttime environment, and since they sleep during the day and are active at night, they're getting confused on what's day and what's night. This is really affecting them. When we add light to the environment, that has the potential to disrupt habitat, just like running a bulldozer over the landscape. And that's a quote from Chad Moore, and we can think about this as we're bulldozing our environment, not just with animals, but with everything right now. We need to be much more aware of what we're doing and how we're doing it. This is why I'm using today's podcast to bring light to more information about what we can do and what is happening right now with even just the use of our lights. To delve a little deeper into this topic of light pollution, I've brought in a specialist from Earth Law Center. This is Taylor Peery. How are you doing this morning? I'm good. Thank you for bringing me on to this podcast. I love bringing awareness to this topic because it's a big issue that most people do not think about doing. I agree. I'm hoping that today's episode will make people more conscious about the use of artificial light. Could you explain from your perspective of what your research has brought to light? Yes. So I have looked into how light pollution interferes with the timing of necessary biological activities. During the night is when everything and everyone is affected the most. In some of my research, I focused in on a lot of plants and corals. I'd love to get to know more about your research. Is the light pollution contributing to the decline of coral reefs? 130 different species of coral in the Great Barrier Reef are actually spawned by moonlight, but urban lights are masking the moon phases, throwing off the biological time clocks of the corals that are sick. Because of this, corals have been releasing their reproductive cells either late or not at all. Because the moon seems like it couldn't be affected since it's in space, most people don't think it can be affected. But that's not true. Light pollution is much stronger than you might think. Wow. I didn't even think about coral being affected. What about plants on land, though? I heard you had done a study on pollination as well. Yes. What is seen from my study was spiraling chaos. The sun is what helps plants complete photosynthesis. So with the interference of light pollution, we throw plants off. So plants are struggling to grow flowers and reproduce, which is where the spiraling begins. Since the flowers aren't necessary for pollinators, the life cycles get affected as well. A fun fact is that a lot of people don't know that one third of human food requires pollinators. I had no clue that that much of food needed pollinators. Yeah. So the spiral went from the sun, to the plants, to the pollinators, to humans. If we keep on the journey of slowly killing things on our planet, Earth will be destroyed faster than anticipated. Geez. So much is affected by the usage of artificial light. In your informed opinion, what can we do to try and lessen the amount of artificial light that we use? That's a great question. People can add dimmers to their light switches, eliminate or reduce late-night decorative lighting, and you can install reflectors on your driveway or walkways instead of having a row of lights to illuminate. I love those ideas. I need to incorporate some of those into my life to reduce my usage. Thank you so much for bringing your insight into my deep dive into the effects of light pollution. Of course. Thank you for having me. I hope I was able to explain the extreme effects that I have seen through my research over the years. I hope that everyone learned throughout this podcast that not only is our health being affected, but so are plants and animals. With our health, we have to be careful because our light pollution can leave us at an increased risk for things like sleep disorders, depression, and obesity. Everything is due to our own actions. We need to be aware of what we are using and how much we are using of it. Because of our usage, animals are being highly affected. And if we keep doing this, animals are going to go extinct. And as Dr. Peary said, light pollution is also affecting our plants. To leave everybody off with some advice on how to change this for the future, we can look from Smart Cities Dive to see four ways that we can help the environment by limiting our light pollution. The first one is install motion-sensitive lighting. The second one, ensure that bulbs are covered and lighting facing downwards so that we illuminate the ground and not the sky. The third one, use a different kind of light. Switching to low-watt bulbs is a straightforward way of reducing light pollution. And lastly, minimize light loss from your home. Reducing light pollution is not just a task for municipal government. Outdoor lighting in buildings and in your gardens contribute to light pollution as well. Obviously, some lighting is more critical than others, but by following the above three steps on outdoor lighting and doing a better job of minimizing the amount of light loss from the inside of your home, everyone can play a part in reducing urban light pollution. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of Beyond the Glow. I hope you tune back in for next week's episode where I bring another special guest in to talk about yet another scientific topic.