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Light Pollution And Its Effects On Health

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Most people have heard of air pollution, water pollution, and many kinds of pollution like them. Issues like these are covered extensively in the media and are targeted by many environmental groups. In fact, many of these issues play significant roles in political elections. Though these kinds of pollution are widely known, there is another type of pollution that receives far less attention. Few environmental groups mention it, and many members of the general public have not even heard of it. However, it is just as common and arguably as dangerous as the pollution types listed above. This pollution is known as light pollution. Fundamentally light pollution is the excessive use of light in urban areas, where growth of population and businesses brings with it large amounts of unneeded light. This light pollution causes countless negative effects ranging from the inhibition of scientific research to a believed negative impact on health. Light pollution 's most notable effect, however, is on the night sky. As more and more lights are installed, more and more stars are blotted out by the resulting skyglow. Because of this, light pollution is by far the most severe impairment to astronomy at both the recreational and professional levels. It also has a slew of other negative effects such as changing the habits of animals and contributing to an increase in cancer risk. Due to these problems, there have been several proposals to stop light pollution. The three most commonly proposed

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