Light pollution causes all kinds of issues – it’s bad for the environment, harmful to our health and consumes a huge amount of energy. Whilst these issues can be controlled and monitored to an extent, what’s more difficult to control is the effect that artificial light has on wildlife. An incredible 875% increase in LEDs is predicted between the years 2016 and 2023, as we continue adding more lights into our homes, offices and to the streets outside. Unfortunately, we’re often doing more harm than we realize when installing new lighting systems.
There are many species that depend on natural lighting to regulate their feeding and sleeping patterns, to attract mates and follow flight paths. The artificial lighting systems that we install into our homes, offices, towns and cities interfere with these routines and cycles, putting animals, birds and insects in danger. Sometimes, this can even have fatal consequences on a huge scale, with millions of birds and turtle hatchlings being killed every year as a result of artificial light.
Since our society is dependent on artificial lighting solutions to function, it’s important that we make ourselves aware of the issues this might be having on the world around us. This infographic created by 4ever Deck outlines just how dangerous LEDs can be for the survival of many species, and provides some potential solutions to the issue.
