ABSTRACT
Since the invention of fire, we have illuminated darkness. Artificial light has been generated by dung, wood, oil, dried fish, beeswax, peat, coal, and gas. In this chapter the author outlines the impacts of artificial light at night on human health and ecological processes. Light pollution is a term for any unwanted or nuisance or trespass artificial light that has adverse effects. There is now mounting evidence in the scientific medical community that artificial night lighting levels have strong impacts on humans and is likely a sleeping giant threatening human health. Night lighting can interrupt the human circadian system and consequently impacts our physiology, metabolism, and behaviour. We can think of melatonin as keeping our circadian master clock that controls physiological and behavioural processes. Lights that are environmentally and medically better point us towards the idea of how landscape architecture might perform for considerable social benefit in an emerging arena.
