Light pollution is obscuring the night sky光污染在遮蔽夜空

Lisa Grossman

The night sky has been brightening2 faster than researchers realized， thanks tothe use of artificial3 lights at night. A study shows that the night sky grew about 10percent brighter， on average， every year from 2011 to 2022.

A baby born in a region4 where about 250 stars can be seen every night wouldsee only 100 stars on his 18th birthday.

The perils5 of light pollution go far beyond not being able to see as many stars.Too much brightness at night can harm peoples health， send birds flying intobuildings， and draw pollinating6 insects toward lights instead of plants.

In a way， this is a call to action. People should consider that this does haveinfluence on our lives. It influences our health. It influences other animals whocannot speak for themselves.

Some simple solutions7 include dimming8 or turning off lights overnight，especially floodlighting or lights in empty parking lots.

The good news is that you just have to turn a switch9 and the problem goesaway. However， its easier said than done. This problem of light pollution is madeby billions of individual10 decisions.

由于夜間使用了人造光，夜空變亮的速度比研究人員想象的要快。一項(xiàng)研究顯示，從2011 年到2022 年，夜空平均每年變亮10%左右。

一個(gè)出生在每晚大約有250 顆星星可見(jiàn)的地區(qū)的嬰兒，在18 歲生日時(shí)也許只能看到100 顆星星。

光污染的危害遠(yuǎn)不止看不到那么多星星。夜晚過(guò)亮?xí)p害人們的健康，會(huì)讓鳥(niǎo)飛進(jìn)建筑物，會(huì)把授粉昆蟲(chóng)引向燈光而不是植物。

從某種程度上來(lái)說(shuō)，這是一個(gè)行動(dòng)的號(hào)召。人們應(yīng)該考慮到，這確實(shí)對(duì)我們的生活產(chǎn)生了影響。它影響我們的健康。它影響到其他無(wú)法為自己發(fā)聲的動(dòng)物。

一些簡(jiǎn)單的解決方案包括夜間調(diào)暗或關(guān)閉燈光，尤其是泛光燈或空停車場(chǎng)的燈。

好消息是，你只要撥動(dòng)開(kāi)關(guān)，問(wèn)題就會(huì)迎刃而解。然而，說(shuō)起來(lái)容易做起來(lái)難。

光污染的這個(gè)問(wèn)題是由數(shù)十億人的個(gè)人決定造成的。

Notes

1. obscure? 遮掩；遮蔽

2. brighten? 使明亮

3. artificial 人造的；人工的

4. region 地區(qū)；區(qū)域

5. peril 危險(xiǎn)；問(wèn)題

6. pollinate? 對(duì)……授粉

7. solution? 解決辦法

8. dim? 使……變暗

9. switch 開(kāi)關(guān)；電閘

10. individual 個(gè)人的