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In the big city, we don’t get to marvel at the starry sky, the Milky Way or the Northern Lights, all of which have historically inspired humans and given us perspective on science, religion, philosophy, arts, and literature.

A dark, inspirational sky is our universal heritage, and it’s being lost at a rapid rate, all around the world.

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Light pollution is the culprit for our diminished dark sky. It’s the excessive use of lighting, increasing ambient light levels, leading to an orange glow above our city. All bright, poorly directed light adds to the pollution. This pollution can adversely affect our health and even lead to sleep disturbance and depression.

Light pollution has many harmful effects on wildlife too. Animals, and even plants, rely on the natural cycle of light and dark to cue critical behaviours, such as reproduction, feeding, sleep and predator avoidance. Bright lights have negatively affected frogs and toads in city wetlands, by disrupting their nocturnal croaking, resulting in less procreation and ultimately smaller populations.