There are different types of pollution like, water, air and light. They all contribute to the overall global warming that is affecting the Earth. Pollution damages the environment, making water undrinkable, air unbreathable and damaging the structure and reproduction cycle of plants around us. However, people don’t really focus on how the bright city lights and lights that illuminate our towns affect both the environment and wildlife around us.

Light pollution has taken a great toll on the wildlife and just making a small switch could save so much. The luminous glow given off by cities and suburbs negatively affects the biological rhythms and interferes with the behavior of nocturnal animals. Artificial light has taken the greatest toll on nocturnal birds who use the moon and stars for navigation during migrations. These birds become so disoriented that they sometimes fly in the opposite direction towards bright cities in the distant. Birds such as the Cerulean warbler and Henslow’s sparrow have become endangered because they are at a high risk of colliding with night towers during their migrations. This also affect marine birds as well. Marine birds, like the Tiny Leach’s Storm Petrel, are particularly drawn to light so it becomes very dangerous when bright light houses and fishermen boat lights shine so bright. These birds then travel great distances to get to light that they end up dying from exhaustion.

Air pollution is what most people think of when the subject of pollution comes up. However, light pollution can be just as harmful as air pollution. Light pollution does not just affect the environment, it affects careers and hobbies that people enjoy. For astronomers, light pollution affects the way they analyze the sky. The bright lights interfere with the natural light given off by the moon and night sky. This makes it nearly impossible to study the sky because no stars are visible. Those people who enjoy looking out telescopes at the night sky should forget it, they will just be disappointed with the results in the night sky. Over the past year, urban cities have installed more lights causing the sky to go blank. If only those lights turned off, then people would realize how beautiful our night sky is and how urbanization has caused people to be so forgetful about the environment around us.

Taking this Climate Change fiction class has opened my eyes into viewing possibilities of things that can be negatively impact the planet. Simple things such as turning your light off when you do not need it can make a huge impact on the world if more people start doing it. With the population of earth growing from year to year, so is the pollution rate. I feel that after taking this class, I got a better understanding of the world and the direction it is moving towards. Pollution is a big thing we need to stop because this emits more CO2 into the atmosphere than needed.