What light pollution and climate change have in common – Knowledge

If you deal regularly with climate change, you have a lot to do with loss. Snow is becoming rarer, species that were once quite common are dying out regionally, things that were known and taken for granted are changing or are simply gone.

But there are losses not only in nature, but even in the sky: Scientists recently wrote in the specialist magazine Science reports that the number of visible stars in the night sky is decreasing even faster than previously thought – it’s just too bright at night to see much. If things continue like this, the researchers have calculated, the starry sky will soon thin out dramatically in many places. A child born today in a place where you can see 250 stars on a clear day would see only 100 by their 18th birthday.

Admittedly, this is only indirectly related to climate change. The permanent lighting harms many animals, which are already suffering from global warming, and thus amplifies an effect of the climate crisis. And of course all the senseless lights also consume energy, which is still largely generated from fossil fuels. But there is one frustrating parallel: Light pollution is senseless, harmful and robs people of a natural wonder, at least in urban areas, and yet we cannot or do not want to turn it off.

I have nothing against streetlights, but completely unnecessary or even upward lighting can really drive me to despair. And when I last saw the trace of the Milky Way in the sky, I don’t remember exactly, it certainly wasn’t in Munich on my doorstep.

Sometimes I can’t even say whether I’m more sad about such things or whether I’m angry above all. If you feel the same: Some time ago, my colleague Vera Schroeder asked scientists about their feelings about climate change and how they deal with it. Sadness was mentioned several times, as was anger – but surprisingly much was said about hope, which I found very encouraging. And the good thing about light pollution is that if one day it is possible to reduce it significantly, every single star that is invisible today will still be there as if nothing had ever happened (with the exception of any supernovae that could have happened by then). If only it were the same with CO₂ emissions.

(This text is from the weekly Newsletter climate friday you here for free can order.)

source site