Pollution

Over the weekend, I had to go to my sisters cheerleading in Las Vegas. (She won, shoutout to HB Storm.) It was my turn to do the moon log, but we ran into some problems.  One, the moon looks different in Las Vegas than it does in Orange County, and two, you can see NOTHING in the Vegas night sky.  Even the moon looks dull:

The reason the Vegas sky is so devoid of stars is because of two reasons.  The first is that the air quality is so low, and the second is the light pollution caused by the Las Vegas strip.  Light is also known as photopollution, and it is excessive artificial light that obscures the night sky.  Light pollution is bad because it obscures the night sky, but also because it has adverse effects on the environment.  Studies have shown that too much exposure to light can cause anxiety in animals and humans.  Excessive exposure to artificial light indoors is shown to cause increased blood pressure up to eight points!  Light pollution also disrupts ecosystems.  It can confuse and change the migration patterns of nocturnal animals.  Also, some spiders avoid light, while others don't mind making their webs on light sources.  Since insects are attracted to light, this gives an advantage to the spiders who build their webs near lamps.  Light pollution is a problem not many people know about, and is being fought by the International Dark-Sky Association.

-Seth