The world's nights are getting surprisingly brighter. This is bad news for all kinds of creatures, including humans - as light pollution is becoming worse, taking away the darkness of night almost everywhere.
Satllite* observations* made by researchers show Earth's arterially-lit outdoor area grew by 2% a year from 2012 to 2016. So did night time brightness. Light pollution was even worse than that, according to the German-led team, because satellites cannot observe some of the LED lighting, especially blue light.
"Honestly, I had hoped that with LEDs we were improving the situation, for this new lighting technology has been developed to use less energy. But it turns out quite disappointing," said Kyba, the lead author of the study.
"Asia, Africa and South America, for the most part, have seen an increase in artificial night lighting. The cities in developing nations are brightening quite rapidly. Other bright places include greenhouses in the Netherlands and areas of agriculture. More and more places are fixing outdoor lighting because of its low cost and the growth in communities' wealth," the scientists said.
One of the co-authors, Franz Holker of the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin, said things were already in a terrible situation.
"Many people are using light at night without really thinking about the cost," Holker said. "Not just the economic cost, but also the cost that you have to pay for environmental damage."
The effect from the increasing artificial light is obvious, according to the researchers. People's sleep can be marred, which in turn can hurt their health. The life of birds, fish, insects and bats can be harmed. Plants can have longer growing periods. And people may forget about seeing stars or the Milky Way if the light pollution continues.
Kyba and his team suggest avoiding bright lights whenever possible and using more useful ways to shine light on places such as parking lots or city streets. For example, dim, closely spaced lights can provide better visibility than bright lights that are more spread out.
