The quorum court heard a presentation Monday from Bruce McMath, with the Arkansas Natural Sky Association, who said he had helped represent the people who had their groundwater polluted by the city of Green Forest years ago, and he now works on a different kind of pollution. He said light pollution just means “losing the stars” to some people, but he warned that “human health is linked to this cycle of night and day.”
The American Medical Association has issued public health statements regarding the effects that too much light can have on hormones. That 2009 report also noted sleep problems, depression, and cancers. The AMA issued another warning in 2016, with concerns about the blue range of LED lights.
Artificial lighting interferes with animal breeding and navigation, McMath said, and has a particular impact on birds. In addition to the other factors, light pollution wastes energy and money, and contributes further to greenhouse gases.
McMath said people once felt that “more light was better,” but city residents now miss the night sky. “When something becomes scarce, others want it,” he said. “Urban people who have lost their skies want to vacation or even move somewhere with a night sky.”
McMath shared a map showing light pollution in the northwest part of the state. The Buffalo River and wildlife reserves in the region have helped keep this area relatively dark, especially the southeast portion of Carroll County.
“We don’t have to give up artificial light,” he said, “but we can only light where it’s needed, avoid over-lighting, and use appropriately colored lighting.” He showed a diagram of a typical yard light, with a cone of “useful light” representing about 35 percent of the light emitted by the fixture. “We could hardly design a more wasteful fixture,” he said.
JP Marty Johnson dismissed the discussion of changes in lighting, suggesting that companies wanting to sell new fixtures were behind the proposal.