Mohamad ZraikMrs.ZellmerEnglish 2011 March 1, 2014 Falling StarsWhen was the last time you really looked at the stars? Have you forgotten their presence or has light pollution blinded us? This is a problem that has been going on for some time now and is getting worse. People only hear about major pollution, like water and air. They don't realize or have never heard of light pollution and its effects on the planet. The media only talks about how global warming is killing our animals, but doesn't talk about how light pollution is killing us. “Our Vanishing Night,” written by Pomona College graduate and Princeton University PhD Verlyn Klinkenborg, explains the effects of light pollution around the world. “News'n'More”, “O the stars, where are you? , is an article that agrees with Klinkenborg. Both articles agree that light pollution affects our environment and harms our beloved species. What is light pollution? Light pollution is an artificial canopy which disrupts astronomical observations in particular. Light pollution has existed for centuries. According to “Stars,” “two-thirds of humanity lives under the orange haze of a light-polluted night sky and a fifth cannot see the Milky Way, the galaxy that contains Earth.” The Milky Way looks like a line filled with beginnings stretching across the sky (“Stars”). Few people are aware of this problem. The main cause of light pollution is poor lighting design. This allows artificial light to shine outward and toward the sky, where it is not wanted (356). In the article “Our Vanishing Night,” Klinkenborg uses real-life examples to support his argument. An example is the streets of London in the 1800s: "Nearly a million people lived there, making a... middle of paper ...... laid down and not spreading into the atmosphere. This procedure can capture excess light and could help improve those atmospheric particles that cause blurring in the sky. Additionally, if someone cannot sleep without a night lamp, it would be better to purchase a colorful one. The darker the color, the less exposed it is and uses less energy. It is difficult for our new generations to live without light. They are accustomed to artificial light since birth. Although in ancient times people had more children, but they still used candles. Completely reducing all artificial light would be great, but it's impossible. Technology will continue to improve. However, if we don't stop and try to reduce some of the lighting we use, there will be consequences. Our future generations may no longer be able to see the stars in the sky.