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Season 3 – Episode 5: Drowning in light – The hidden costs of light pollution

Season 3 – Episode 5: Drowning in light – The hidden costs of light pollution

Light O'Clock vor 1 Jahr

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57:51

Podcast

Light O'Clock

30 Episoden

A podcast on light and your body clock

Wissenschaft Gesundheit & Fitness

Podcaster

mspitschan

For our Season 3 finale of Light O’Clock, we dive into a timely
and often overlooked issue: light pollution. Artificial light at
night has become a constant in modern life — but what are the
hidden consequences?

Our guests, Barbara Harding, Travis
Longcore and Karolina M.
Zielińska-Dąbkowska, bring scientific insight into how
nighttime light exposure may affect human health, including
possible links to cancer, and how it disrupts wildlife,
ecosystems, and natural rhythms. We also explore practical
solutions: since we can’t simply switch off the lights, how can
we use artificial light more responsibly to protect both
ourselves and the environment? We explain the five principles for
responsible outdoor lighting created by International DarkSky
Association (now DarkSky International) and the Illuminating
Engineering Society.

Links and resources

DarkSky International website: https://darksky.org/

Ecological light pollution:
https://doi.org/10.1890/1540-9295(2004)002[0191:ELP]2.0.CO;2

Five principles for responsible outdoor lighting:
https://darksky.org/resources/guides-and-how-tos/lighting-principles/

Outdoor artificial light and cardiometabolic risk:
https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwae269

Artificial light at night and cancer risk:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177059

Timestamps

(00:00) What is light pollution?

(02:17) Light at night and circadian rhythms

(05:18) Light at night and cancer risk

(09:35) How light pollution is measured

(16:11) What's the link between light at night exposure and
disease risk?

(19:00) Ecological light pollution

(20:50) Effects of light pollution in animals: birds and
turtles

(26:00) Artificial light and animals' circadian rhythms

(28:55) Light pollution changing predators-preys dynamics

(32:30) Awareness towards light pollution in different
countries

(35:20) Why did we start to use artificial light in the first
place?

(40:30) What are the current lighting standards?

(43:00) Different stakeholders involved in outdoor lighting

(47:00) Five principles for responsible outdoor lighting

(55:20) Wrap up and outro