I first became aware of this phenomena during my study years when my brother did a presentation about it for one of his study subjects. Later, when I became more passionate about stargazing, I noticed during my night walks how lights from Austria drew a silhouette of the mountains. My interest in this phenomena rose profoundly in the last year thanks to a street light not far from my window.  

The phenomena responsible for all these memories is called Light pollution. Light pollution occurs when we use too many lights or when we use them in a inappropriate way. Light ends up where it’s not meant to be, causing energy loss, starless nights, behavioural changes, sleepless nights...

I decided to learn more about light pollution in a (hopefully) useful way by writing a short publication on the topic as my personal EVS project. I found inspiration for the title, Polluting Darkness, while reading the light pollution handbook by Narisada and Schreuder. The authors argue that the term light pollution is in a way misleading, as we are not polluting light but darkness.

You will notice that I’m not a designer or photographer. Hence the lack of pictures and simple “design”. I hope that professional photographers and designers will forgive me for this blasphemy.  

What else is there to say? Turn off the lights and enjoy your reading!

Aljaž Malek