Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland.
Mayo Dark Skies, County Mayo, Ireland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Aug 4;17(15):5628. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17155628.
Light pollution is increasingly an area of concern for health and quality of life research. Somewhat surprisingly, there are relatively few descriptions of perceptions of light pollution in the literature. The current study examined such perceptions in a Irish sample.
A survey was circulated as part of a citizen science initiative of a national newspaper; the survey included questions regarding night sky brightness and the impact of light at night on sleep and animal behaviour. Complete responses from 462 respondents were analysed.
Urban location was, as anticipated, associated with reported brighter night skies, and public lighting was reported as the main source of light at night for urban settings, whilst neighbours' domestic lighting was the most commonly reported source for rural settings. Respondents from rural settings were more likely to report that light at night impinged on sleep, whilst city dwellers were more likely to report recent changes in wildlife behaviour.
Citizen science approaches may be useful in gathering data on public perceptions of light pollution and its impacts. In the current study, this perception was strongly influenced by location, highlighting the importance of assessing experiences and attitudes across a number of geographical settings.
光污染日益成为健康和生活质量研究关注的一个领域。令人有些惊讶的是，文献中对光污染感知的描述相对较少。本研究在爱尔兰样本中考察了这种感知。
一项调查作为全国性报纸公民科学倡议的一部分进行了分发；该调查包括有关夜空亮度以及夜间光照对睡眠和动物行为影响的问题。对 462 名完整回复者的回复进行了分析。
如预期的那样，城市位置与报告的更亮夜空有关，公共照明被报告为城市环境夜间的主要光源，而邻居的家庭照明是农村环境中最常见的光源。农村地区的受访者更有可能报告夜间光照会影响睡眠，而城市居民则更有可能报告野生动物行为的近期变化。
公民科学方法可能有助于收集公众对光污染及其影响的感知数据。在本研究中，这种感知受到位置的强烈影响，突出了在多个地理环境中评估经验和态度的重要性。
