Harrowsmith – September 2019

Harrowsmith Fall 2019 | 211

THINGS THAT GO

BUMP

IN THE

NIGHT

How light pollution is

disrupting wildlife.

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROBERT DICK

W

e don’t understand it,

so we’re afraid of it,

so we light it up. That

way, it isn’t there anymore.

Humans are diurnal creatures.

We dominate the landscape.

What we want, we get. We live

for the day and, for the most

part, sleep through the night,

or party late into the evening.

We’ve studied the benefits of

light on biolog y (photobiolog y)

and choose to light the night even

though most people are asleep.

But we are not alone in the

night. In terms of numbers,

humans are a distinct minority.

Unknown to most people, our

outdoor lighting means trouble

for most other species. Outdoor

lighting is an anomaly in nature.