Fixing light pollution

It’s hard to stay positive and cheerful in this society. I have all these dreams though of fixing the world, of saving the world. I should try to write more about how to make the world a better place, of how I see the world in my dreams, than to always write about how fucked things are.

One thing I’ve been thinking about the last couple of days is light pollution. In terms of climate change, light pollution is basically non-existent as an issue. I don’t want to really get into how bad light pollution is or what causes it, as I’m sure most people know what causes light pollution. I just sort of want to say what I would do to fix it and why.

I think every street light should have a lid on top of it, so the light doesn’t go up into the sky. I think every building taller than 10 floors should have all their lights turned off from 10pm to 6am every night. I think every building between 5-10 floors should have all their lights turned off from 11pm to 5am. I think every street light except for those at crosswalks and street intersections should be turned off from midnight to 4am every night. I think every household should get four to eight free trees to plant around their house, so that the tree cover blocks household light from escaping into the sky. I think every street should be lined and covered with trees too, to help block the light from escaping into the sky.

While doing all of that wouldn’t eliminate all light pollution, it would reduce it by a lot, enough to be able to go to a city park at night and see a night sky filled with stars as if you’re in the wild. Our cities should be lit up at night by the stars in the sky, not our artificial light. Also, without the city lights, you can see the clouds easier at night. I think that if you’re in a plane flying at night, you shouldn’t be able to tell that you’re flying over a city. You’d still see some lights, but it should be dark.

Turning cities dark at night would be good for the environment too. Our light pollution is drastically harming the lives of nocturnal species. It effects the migration patterns of birds. Cities are basically dead zones for all non-human species, and as cities continue to grow and take up more land, it’s creating the next great mass extinction period. Also, seeing the night sky is spiritually and mentally beneficial to people, it helps us connect with the earth, it helps us to connect with life and the universe when we’re able to see the night sky. So turning cities dark at night would be good for society and the earth.

So yea, if I ran for office, whether it be city level, state level, or national level, reducing and eliminating light pollution would be an issue I’d campaign on.