Verlyn Klinkenborg's Falling Stars, Where Are You?

809 Words2 Pages

Mohamad Zraik
Mrs.Zellmer
English 201
11 March 2014 Falling Stars

When was the last time you really looked up at the stars? Have you forgotten they were there, or has light pollution blinded us? This is a problem that has been going on for a while now, and its getting worse. People only hear about the major pollutions, like water and air. They do not realize or never heard about light pollution and its effect on the planet. The media only talk about how global warming is killing our animals, but do not talk about how light pollution is killing us. “Our Vanishing Night”, written by Verlyn Klinkenborg, a graduate from Pomona College with a PhD from Princeton University, explains how light pollution is effecting worldwide. “News’n’More”, “O Stars, Where Are You? , is and article which agrees with Klinkenborg. Both articles agree the light pollution is effecting our environment and harming our beloved species.
What is Light pollution? Light pollution is artificial skylight that interferes especially with astronomical observations. Light pollution has been around for centuries. According to “Stars”, “two-thirds of humanity live under the orange haze of a light-polluted night sky and one-fifth cannot see the Milky Way, the galaxy that contains Earth.” The Milky Way looks like a line that is filled with starts stretching throughout the sky (“Stars”). Not a lot of people are aware of this issue. The main cause of light pollution is bad lighting design. This allows artificial light to shine outward and upward into the sky, where its not wanted (356).
In the article “Our Vanishing Night”, Klinkenborg uses real life examples to support his argument. One example is the streets of London in the 1800s:”Nearly a million lived there, making d...

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...ted downwards and not spread out into the atmosphere. This procedure can capture the excessive light and could help with improving these atmospheric particles that cause the blurring in the sky. Also if someone cant sleep without a night lamp, buying a colored one would be better. The darker the color is the less exposure it has and uses less energy.
It is hard for our new generations to live with no light. They have been used to artificial light since they were born. Even though, in the older times people had more children but they still used candles. Cutting down completely on all artificial light would be great, but that’s impossible to happen. Technology is going to keep improving. However, if we don’t stop and try to cut down on some of the lighting we use, there will be consequences. Our upcoming generations might not be able to see stars in the sky anymore.

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