As far back as I can remember, I have always known about pollution. From environmentalist presenters that took up our recess time in elementary school, to my final Speech project on the extinction of honeybee populations, I have tried to keep myself informed on the harmful effects that human beings have had on Mother Earth. Among the—sadly—many ways we have harmed the planet are deforestation and light pollution. Although both deforestation and light pollution do not seem as related as, say, deforestation and fracking, they are both prime examples of the selfish nature of human beings triumphing over any consideration for other living beings—aspects that can potentially lead to the downfall of the world.

A key characteristic that both deforestation and light pollution share is the voluntary ridding of the habitats of many species. We are losing so many acres of forests annually that, according to the World Wildlife Fund, it is “equivalent to 27 soccer fields every minute.” One can easily imagine how many species of animals are depending on these forests for shelter and food. It was only a few years ago that the honeybees were declared an endangered species largely due to deforestation. Someone can burst into your home and take all of your things but you will be able to rebuild; however, if someone destroys the foundations upon which your livelihood is based, it will be nearly impossible to recover.

Much is the same with light pollution. Compared to deforestation, light pollution would not seem so bad, and indeed it is not as harrowing; however, many animals’ lives are being upended in much a similar way. Whilst human beings roam around in the bright glare of nighttime lights, nocturnal animals suffer. In his essay titled Our Vanishing Knight, Verlyn Klinkenborg observes, “nocturnal mammals…forage more cautiously under the permanent full moon of light pollution because they’ve become easier targets for predators” (218). Although we as thinking animals have the luxury of adapting to new and different habitats if need be, many animals are dependent on theirs. The blatant disregard for other nocturnal life forms is evident in the thousands of unnecessarily bright lights we put up during the night. Another troubling result of night pollution is its disruptive effects on the natural cycles of certain animals. Klinkenborg explains that “long artificial days” are causing a wide range of birds to breed early and are even disrupting migration schedules. He then emphasizes, “The problem, of course, is that migration, like most other aspects of bird behavior, is a precisely timed biological behavior. Leaving early may mean arriving too soon for nesting conditions to be right” (218). Altering the inner schedules of such animals is not something that they can simply bounce back from. We are able to think of lighting as such a small thing that we will not even stop and consider the way it affects life around us; this can change, however, as long as we realize its effects on the world and are ready to take action.

Some people think that it is not their job to try and fix any of these abhorrent situations that they have put the planet in. I overheard a British comedian state on a talk show that—and I’m paraphrasing here—the sun is going to explode anyway, whether our extinction is further from or closer to that event is pretty meaningless. It is an invocation of the nihilistic attitude of recent generations; however, these same generations know where to draw the line and face the reality that we have done terrible things to the planet and we must start making amends immediately. In Sarah Kramer’s article, This Is What Earth Will Look Like in 100 Years climate scientist and director of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies Gavin Schmidt noted that in a hundred years it is probable that “summers in Greenland [will] become ice free” (6). It was the careless nature of leaving the cleaning up to the next generation that got us into this mess that is climate change, and it is only our own determination to start making changes now that will prevent the planet from being inhabitable a thousand years from now.

Despite all evidence pointing to the contrary, human beings do have a caring nature that can manifest itself when their world is in danger. According to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, “REDD+ stands for countries’ efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and foster conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.” Brazil has made immense amounts of progress in reducing deforestation through this initiative. In fact, at the start of the initiative, Brazil planned to reduce it by eighty percent by the year 2020. It was only 2010 and they had already reached a reduction of sixty-seven percent. Just as there have been strides in reducing deforestation, steps have been taken to reduce light pollution. Klinkenborg showcases the example of Flagstaff, Arizona—a city that is credited for making “some of the earliest civic efforts to control light pollution…and in 2001 it was declare the first International Dark Sky City” (218-219). Changes can even me made on a smaller scale, by taking out the abundance of unnecessary bright lights that sit outside a big portion of houses. People are becoming more and more aware of the multitudes of atrocities done to Mother Earth and are actually beginning to voice their fears. It is possible to prevent the horrible end that we fear awaits us in the future as long as we are able to recognize the situation we have put the world and its inhabitants in, and are ready to make some changes.