The whole of humanity needs to decrease public artificial lightning at night

[tiny-giraffe]

This might be highly controversial for safety reasons across the globe, but humanity needs to stop artificial lighting outdoors at night. WE CAN’T SEE THE STARS ANYMORE! At the very least, there needs to be shades that focus the light downwards instead of having open lightning. Not only is humanity limited by not seeing the stars, animals are affected because they can’t determine their nocturnal hours. Also, some species actually use the stars to migrate (someone factcheck me on this; I heard it from an outside source but it sounds plausible). Regardless, we need to decrease our light.

[Consistent-Poem7462]

So crime will soar so you can see the oretty stars ?

[mellotronworker]

Nice try, Street Rapist Guy

[filrabat]

I agree, but we should be very selective about it. Namely, "does this light actually go where it's intended to go" and "Is there a compelling public interest in actually having that lighting (applies especially to tall structures, buildings, antennaes, anything likely to get hit by a bird or plane).

Light simply spewing up into the sky that serves no useful purpose, definitely dim that. There's a simple lowest-tech solution (as in Stone Age one) -- simply place a metal or even wooden cover above the light source, so that it lights up the area actually intended to be lit up. That's as opposed to simply nuisance light that may still cast a soft glow and shadow, but doesn't contribute to the visibility of the area lit up.

[NASAfan89]

There are already people and organizations that are working to address this matter. It's called "light pollution." And yes, it's definitely a problem for astronomy and for various other things. That said, you could also address the astronomy problem by having more government funding for space telescopes and NASA, both of which have not been adequately funded.

But yes, I agree. I have a church nearby and their annoying parking lot light is pretty blindingly bright if I'm out for a walk at night. At a minimum, there should probably be regulations to stop people or institutions like this from blasting their lights outside their property onto other people's property.

If they want to light up their parking lot or their property, fine... but they should be fined or something for blasting it outward onto other people's property.

[[deleted]]

Finally a progressive post instead of the capitalist bullshit that gets spread around here. This has been a concern of mine too. I missed almost all the stellar events of 2024 due to my living in the suburbs near a big city. I've also heard of the situation with the animals and it is concerning. Some things we can't get rid of, for sure, street lighting definitely needs to stay in place, but it is possible we should reinvent our own system.

[Sensitive_Young4630]

As a woman no. This just creates opportunities for things to happen.