The night sky is painted with countless stars and streaks of light, a display that has inspired storytellers and guided navigators since the days before our earliest history. Every civilization has looked to the night skies to craft stories from the constellations and seek guidance beyond simple directions. These historic interactions are an important part of our cultural development and growth as a species. 

When baby sea turtles hatch, their first instinct is to head toward the moonlight reflecting on the water’s surface — a natural waypoint that leads them to the sea. Hatchlings are drawn to the brightest thing they see, and in developed areas the brightest thing is no longer the moon, but the street and hotel lights.

This disorients the baby turtles and leads many of them away from the ocean, causing dehydration, starvation, and an increased chance of getting eaten. 

Twice a year more than 5 million birds from at least 250 different species fly through the city of Chicago alone as they head toward Canada in the spring and return south toward Central and South America in the fall. Though beautiful, the Windy City’s skyline can prove fatal to a number of birds who collide with glass-covered or illuminated buildings. 

Studies have estimated at least 100 million bird deaths related to light pollution in cities throughout the United States per year, and some estimates put that number closer to one billion deaths per year.