" Light Pollution Effects on Human Health
and the Environment”
By: Deborah Moran
Swayed by strong economic and climate-related arguments, many localities and businesses around the world are switching to LEDs for use in street and premises lighting. However, not all LED lighting is optimal.
LED fixtures which produce excess blue light are harmful to both human health and the environment. They interfere with circadian rhythms and reduce melatonin production which can lead to suppression of the human immune system. There is now voluminous data showing a higher risk of hormonally linked cancers with melatonin suppression. Excess blue light also can have negative effects on plants and wildlife.
Lighting fixtures that are overly bright, improperly designed or installed can create glare. Overly blue-colored light makes the glare worse, since blue light scatters more in the human eye. This leads to increased disability glare which has serious implications for night-time driving visibility and can hide pedestrians or other conditions from a driver’s view.
Speaker Bio: Deborah Moran has had a lifelong interest in astronomy since her childhood in Midland, TX where all the scenery is in the sky. She has been a member of the Houston Astronomical Society since 1980, where she has served in several capacities in the past including Treasurer, Education chair and Novice chair for nine years. She also participates in outreach programs and is a volunteer telescope operator at the George Observatory in Brazos Bend State Park.
Deborah is the 2017 recipient of the International Dark-Sky association’s Hoag-Robinson Award for education of government officials about outdoor lighting issues. In 2010, her Woodside neighborhood became the first one within Houston city limits allowed to install low glare fully shielded decorative streetlights. For the past several years she has presented concerns about the choice of high glare white LED street lights in Houston to city officials and hopes that the Houston area will someday join other communities in moving to warm or soft white to amber LEDs which are recommended by the American Medical Association for their reduced glare and reduced disruption of day/night circadian function.
She has combined her love of travel and astronomy by chasing total and annular solar eclipses around the world. In 2010, Deborah retired from the Houston Symphony violin section after 27 years.
To see the video, click Light Pollution Effects on Human Health and the Environment”.
