The Commission for Dark Skies

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Wildlife and Light Pollution

Life on Earth has evolved over millions of years with the natural cycle of daylight and night time. Over the past century the increasing use of artificial light at night has blurred this normal rhythm creating mostly adverse conditions for the plants and animals that share our world with us. Research into the effects of artificial light at night has only really got underway in the last few years. This has revealed some alarming facts:

Birds killed by light pollution
Dead birds collected in one year after colliding with lit windows in Toronto

photograph courtesy F.L.A.P.

The Internet has hundreds of pages of information on light pollution and the environment. The book Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting, Rich and Longcore, ISBN 1-55963-129-5 is an excellent source of information on the issue.

Scientists have urged that far more research into the effects of artificial light at night is needed. In the meantime we are conducting a worldwide experiment on our ecosystem without understanding the consequences of our actions.