Description

The Town installed new LED bulbs in the streetlamps yesterday, and they are too bright. They shine a weird bright green light into bedroom windows. LEDs surely save energy and money, but in residential neighborhoods, these need shields or shades to direct the light only down onto the street.

Light pollution is hazardous to human health and disorients nocturnal wildlife.

"... light intrusion, even if dim, is likely to have measurable effects on sleep disruption and melatonin suppression. Even if these effects are relatively small from night to night, continuous chronic circadian, sleep and hormonal disruption may have longer-term health risks [including cancer] . . . Red light suppresses melatonin the least." (These LEDs cast a blue-green light.)

"Light pollution poses a serious threat in particular to nocturnal wildlife, having negative impacts on plant and animal physiology. It can confuse animal navigation, alter competitive interactions, change predator-prey relations, and cause physiological harm. The rhythm of life is orchestrated by the natural diurnal patterns of light and dark, so disruption to these patterns impacts the ecological dynamics."

Please shade or shield these lights. If I wanted to sleep at a brightly-lit highway rest stop, I'd get in my car.