Lesson 4 Earth, Our Only Home
Is It a Light Problem?
Look ____ this beautiful painting.
It was created by the famous Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh ____ 1889.
In Van Gogh's time, almost everyone could look up and see a wonderful ____ night sky.
Now, how many ____ us are as lucky as Van Gogh?
In fact, ____ people in today's world cannot enjoy a starry night sky.
____ is so because of light pollution.
Most of us are familiar
Most of us are familiar ____ air, water, and land pollution.
We know that ____ are serious problems, and we are taking action to solve them.
But did ____ know that light can also cause pollution?
Light pollution―too much ____ in the wrong place at the wrong time―is almost everywhere around the world.
____ can have serious effects on humans and wildlife.
According to a recent report, about 80% of the world's population lives under skies ____ are not dark enough at night.
Especially in big cities, people often cannot see ____ starry night.
They can also suffer from sleep problems because the natural rhythm of day and night is disturbed by ____ light.
Wildlife is threatened
Wildlife is threatened ____ light pollution, too.
Birds that migrate or hunt at night find their way ____ natural light,
but light in big cities can cause ____ to wander off course.
Every year millions of ____ die after hitting buildings that have bright lights.
Sea turtles cannot easily ____ a place to lay eggs since beaches are too bright at night.
Also, many baby sea turtles die because artificial ____ draws them away from the ocean.
Clearly, light ____ is as serious as other forms of pollution.
We have to find ____ to solve the problem.
If we do ____ we may see stars only in our dreams or paintings.