Blinding Glow

The High Court of Bombay is hearing a rather unusual case these days. On March 7, Rohit Manohar Joshi, a social activist in Mumbai, moved the court, seeking removal of decorative lights from tree trunks and branches in the city. While such decorations are supposed to be temporary, “trees in Mumbai’s Malabar Hills, Breach Candy, Walkeshwar and Andheri areas have been draped with lights for several months. Similarly, such lighting can be seen in various areas of Thane and Mira Bhayander,” Joshi said in the petition. Last year, a similar plea had reached the office of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Environmentalists Jyoti Nadkarni and B N Kumar wrote an email to the chief minister, opposing the municipal corporation’s plan to beautify the 400-year-old Vadale lake at Panvel in Raigad district by illuminating its 1,300-metre shore with colourful leds (light-emitting diodes), artificially lit benches, animal figurines, street motifs and a 5-metre-tall parachute. Subsequently, the municipal corporation replaced the bright leds with dim lighting inside the boundary wall of the lake.

The opposition to decorative lights and floodlights may appear bizarre to some at a time when abundant luminosity is synonymous with economic progress and development. Since Humphry Davy, a British chemist, invented the first electric light 200 years ago, paving the path for development of light bulbs, artificial lighting has revolutionised the way we live, work, socialise and run business. Arguably, light bulb is one of the most transformative inventions in human history; it has propelled us into the modern era, shaping various industries, infrastructure and scientific advancement. In a world where hundreds of millions of people still live in the dark—as per Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023, some 675 million people lacked electricity in 2021, mostly in least developed countries—lighting is crucial for Sustainable Development Goals set out by the UN. Then why are the likes of Joshi, Nadkarni and Kumar so against artificial lighting?

Age of artificial light

A growing body of research links extended light-time to ecological chaos, serious illnesses among humans The fact is, much of the world now suffer from the too-much-of-a-good-thing syndrome. In urban areas and metropolises, excessive and inappropriate use of outdoor artificial lights has nearly obliterated the natural darkness of night. A growing body of scientific research now links this extended light-time to ecological chaos and serious illnesses among humans, and refer to artificial light as a neglected pollutant...

This article was originally published as part of Down To Earth’s cover story on light pollution dated 1-15 November, 2024.