Light Pollution Essay

5.4 Light Pollution

Light pollution is the immoderate and inappropriate use of artificial outdoor light. Below are the four main types of pollution:

- Urban Sky Glow: the brightening of the night sky over area occupied by humans.

- Light Trespass: light falling unintentionally where it is not needed, or wanted.

- Glare: cause decrease in visual discomfort due to excessive brightness.

- Clutter: Grouping of bright lights that cause the inability to differentiate objects.

Effect of Light Pollution

1. Environment: Every year, an approximate of 12 million tons of carbon dioxide, the gas that causes global warming is released into the atmosphere due to excessive nighttime lighting. Therefore light pollution may also cause other forms

Wildlife: Wildlife face disorientation of time when there is excess artificial light at night. Bright lights also affect the sleeping, feeding, mating, and migration cycles of all wildlife.

3. Astronomy: Astronomers will face difficulties viewing sky and stars due light spill and sky glow that hamper with astronomical equipment. This makes makes viewing faint celestial bodies hard even with the aid of a telescope.

5.5 Radiation

Different forms of radiation can be found in the natural environment. They can be natural occurring or produced by our modern technology. Thus, radiation can be generally classified in to two types:

- Natural sources: cosmic rays, gamma rays from the Earth, radon decay products in the air, and various radionuclides found naturally in food and drink.

- Artificial sources: medical X rays, fallout from the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, dispense of radioactive waste from the nuclear industry, industrial gamma rays, and miscellaneous items such as consumer products

Most of these radiation can bring both advantages and disadvantages. However, most attention is focused on “ionizing radiation” This type of radiation can bring biological harm as it disrupt atoms, producing positive ions, and negative

Acid precipitation can also adversely affects trees. There is speculation that sulfate and nitrate deposition affects the ability of trees to tolerate cold temperatures, and weakened trees are killed by cold conditions or become susceptible to diseases. Acid rain also affects a lake ecosystem by dissolving chemical elements necessary for life and keeping them in solution so they leave the lake with water outflow.

It is also known that acid rain leaches metals, such as aluminum, lead, mercury, and calcium, from soils and rocks in a drainage basin and discharged them into rivers and lakes. The elevated concentrations of aluminum are particularly damaging to fish, because the metal can clog the gills and cause suffocation. The heavy metals may pose health hazards to humans, because they may become concentrated in fish and then passed on to people, mammals, and birds when the fish are eaten. Drinking water taken from acidic lakes may also have high concentrations of toxic metals.

6.3 Solutions for Acid