How Santa Monica's growing light pollution erodes human health, security and intellectual health
There was a time when our coastal night meant somewhat – on the day the stars appeared and the world finally exhaled. Now the skyline in the city center is buzzing with artificial light. The stars have practically disappeared. And something else can also disappear: our health, our security, our mental health.
This is the age of light pollution – breaks, loud and dazzling. And it can be one of the most overlooked threats to the quality of life in modern cities. Like Flagstaff, Arizona, Palo Alto and Los Altos in California, Santa Monica should be at the top of the implementation and enforcement of zoning and building deaths, which the unnecessary lighting, including but not limited to advertising boards, restricted to ensure that the night sky remains visible in our trading and urban areas.
The California Calgreen Code (Section 5.106.8) integrates the reduction of light pollution into its building standards and enables the limits for upward light, glare and backlighting. But is that really sufficient? Does our city take the initiative through as with many environmental issues by enforcing the importance of this prioritization and enforcement of it? We don't think.
The eternal glow
Highly powerful street lamps, glowing advertising boards, glass values from the inside and floodfully lit roads contribute to an environment with a constant, low brightness. It is easy to believe that this is a symbol of progress. But there is a darker truth.
The human body should follow the rhythms of natural light. Our circadian rhythm – a finely coordinated biological clock – depends on the rise and fall of the sunlight to regulate sleep, mood, hormone production and even cellular repair. Artificial light at night, especially in urban environments, disturbs this cycle.
Medical studies have light pollution with:
- Reduced melatonin production and poor sleep quality
- Increased risk of depression and anxiety disorders
- Higher rates of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases
- Greater incidence of hormone -related cancer
In short, life in eternal twilight not only steals our calm. It plays tacitly to our health.
The myth of more light
City planners often argue that well -lit streets prevent crime and improve security. In truth, excessive or poorly designed lighting can have the opposite effect.
Light pollution creates hard contrast and deep shade, where danger can lurk. It reduces visibility by glare. It washes monitoring camera. And there are the residents who accept, a false feeling of security, protect the brightness.
Even worse, invasive lighting, which flows into living rooms-as more easily eroded sleep and mental well-being. Apartment residents fight street lamps that flow through curtains. Children sleep under ceilings that lightly shine blue from nearby advertising boards. People are tired, irritated and separated.
There is no urban security through lighting. It is an aesthetic distraction. And it makes our cities sick.
The slow development
You may not notice it immediately. The exhaustion is gradually building up. They wake up. You stop dreaming. They forget how real darkness looks. Maybe your child asks what stars really are – and they realize that he has never seen a sky without haze.
These are the more subtle, more urgent effects of light pollution. Not only physiological, but also psychological. We are creatures of balance. Without darkness. Our thoughts fragment without rest.
A way back to the night
The good news? There are ways to defend themselves – and they do not require cities to plunge into total power failures. Intelligent urban lighting strategies can drastically reduce light pollution without affecting security or aesthetics. Some of them are already in the books, but are not enforced.
Solutions include:
- Shielded lighting: devices that glow down the light, not in the sky
- Smart streetlights: systems that weaker or deactivate when there is no one
- Stricter headlight regulations: Reduction of headlight blinding and ensuring the correct alignment
- Zonation laws: Limitation of the brightness of signs and lighting outdoors in commercial and residential areas
Urban darkness is not a threat. It is a natural necessity. One that we forgot how to estimate.
Let's not forget these headlights like hellfire
Another less discussed perpetrator? Newer automotive lights increase the risk on the streets.
In the past two decades, modern vehicles from traditional halogen lamps have developed into ultra-British LEDs and HID systems with high intensity (HID systems). These lights are brilliantly efficient, powerful and durable. You are often too Glare.
The drivers are now fighting with a flood of excessively bright, often incorrectly oriented headlights, especially of larger vehicles such as SUVs and trucks. The result: Road Blend, which can lead to temporary blindness, slower response times and an increase in nightly driving accidents. Pedestrians and cyclists are particularly at risk and by bars that are intense enough to transform zebra crossings into interrogation rooms.
The technology may be new, but the security risks are very real and dangerous, as this can lead to the drivers lose their focus – this is a growing problem.
Last thoughts
Light should free us, make us safer, wiser and more developed. But in our hurry to conquer the darkness, we overlooked what it made available to us: sleep, stars, privacy and silence. Without this elements, a city does not really rest. It remains – suffering, yes – but anxious and out of balance.
So look up tonight. If you can't see the stars (or just a few), ask yourself what else we blinded us in the name of progress?
Michael Jolly for SMA.RT
Santa Monica Architects for a responsible morning
Samuel Tolkin, architect and planning commissioner; Thane Roberts, architect; Mario Fonda-Bonardi Aia, architect; Robert H. Taylor Aia, architect; Dan Jansenson, architect & building and fire brigade security commission; Michael Jolly, Aircre; Jack Hillbrand AIA, Land brand Commission Architect; Matt Hoefler Ncarb, architect; Phil Brock, SM Mayor (RET)