Squirreling Along

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WHAT IS LIGHT POLLUTION?

Sometimes a squirrel likes to sit out and look at the stars. On clear nights you might catch a shooting star, and definitely an airplane if you stick around for a few minutes.

But does the sky look a little different? It might be light pollution. What is light pollution, and why does a squirrel even care?

Light pollution is the glare of that streetlight, the headlights of traffic rolling by, or that light in the yard of the house down the street. It’s even the lights from places several miles away.

Light pollution, put simply, refers to any inappropriate or excessive use of artificial light.

The invention of the electric lightbulb certainly benefits much of our daily lives, but it also gets in the way of natural sunlight, starlight, and the benefits people otherwise get from them. We can accidentally mess up our circadian rhythms very drastically just by watching too much television and not getting enough sunshine.

Humans aren’t the only ones affected by light pollution. Studies show that there are devastating ecological impacts on animals in their natural environments.

Artificial lights are well known to disorient ocean dwelling animals as well as have a wide range of behavioral impact on insects. The impact then trickles down to the interactions of insects with their natural nighttime predators, like bats.

Turning on lights at night serves a wide range of purposes for safety and every day living, so we know it is impractical to remove all lights. But choosing lights that are less obtrusive to the neighbors, installing timers and motion sensors, or even choosing to simply turn out the lights can help to cut down on the effects on all of us… including your friendly neighborhood squirrel.