Light as a Disruptor to be Quantified

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Authors

HOLLAN Jan

Year of publication 2012
Type Article in Proceedings
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Education

Citation
Web 3 typos corrected after publication
Field Pedagogy and education
Keywords darkness; circadian cycle; sleep disruption; radiometry; photometry; faint light
Attached files
Description Day and night cycle, what's more natural than that? And what aspect of nature has been lost more than this one, in our civilisation? It appears, that the present light amounts we're using at night 'thanks' to electric lighting are far over the safe levels. Not only wildlife, but our own health is damaged a lot. Bad and shorter sleep, reduced melatonin production controlling the night-mode metabolism result. The very roots of our civilisation vanish. However, hard numbers are a must in debating those issues. And a broad citizen involvement. Bringing light-at-night photometry to everybody's hands is feasible, instruments for that exist now. We present an overview of technologies, results and their implications. Restoring healthy darkness and still being able to live comfortably is well within our reach. Quantitative approach helps to overcome the business parole 'the more light the better'. Light can be a good servant again, not a bad lord.
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