Sea Turtles and Light Pollution

Cheney says, “Every summer tens of thousands of [Florida sea] turtles, already a threatened species, are lost to disorientation” (City Dark). Why and how is this happening? All I have to say is light pollution. Light pollution for many who do not know is the leading fact of having, being surrounded my tons of unpleasant light making it impossible to see the stars in the night sky but also degrades natural light levels making it harder to see things, not only for humans but for animals as well.

Light pollution is the cause of this poor and sad truth about sea turtles. Because of the fact that many, well mostly all of Florida’s biggest and most populated cities are near beaches that means more light surrounding and illuminating near these beaches. When these sea turtles are born they use the moons light/reflection to guide them into the water and go on and live their life but with all these big light towers and cities made up of bright lights, they misguide them. The lights from the city trick these poor small creatures to think it is the moon and guides them away from the beach instead of into the water causing/leading them into their own death. Thousands of new born sea turtles die because of this.

Sea turtles are not the only animals affected/mislead by the light, but also birds. Birds living in big cities are blinded from the light surrounding them making it harder for them to see, even during the day causing them to run into building causing them to fall from the sky and injure themselves. Thousands of birds from many different species are killed because of this. All this light pollution is extremely crucial to animals, that is why we should try to find some solutions to solving this.

We, as in the whole entire world should not use as much light as we do. Most of the light that we use up is so unnecessary. Especially buildings and towers with extremely bright and colorful lights, for example Los Vegas. Los Vegas has way TOO much light, light that they don’t really need but just use it as fashion and attraction. We could also turn off all our lights at night, well mostly. If we use less light during the night, the more likely we will be able to see the stars in the sky. Buildings that leave their lights on during the night for no reason should definitely turn them off. That is unnecessary light they are consuming, it is pointless. With these solutions and many more, one can eventually help our environment and these poor animals.