| Sažetak (engleski) | In the recent past, Earth inhabitants had a completely dark night and sky full of stars at night, while in the last twenty years, only the inhabitants of less-developed countries could enjoy the starry sky, who had no possibility to install sources that would threaten the night sky by overuse of artificial lighting. Specifically, today we are faced with light pollution, which is primarily the result of the scattered light of cities and other light emissions from artificial sources, mainly from urban areas and areas where economic operators (factories, warehouses, etc.) are concentrated. Much of the light flux from these sources, and therefore energy, is scattered and lost in the sky, which makes the night sky brighter and the celestial objects in its background become invisible. Light pollution is now considered a complex problem that has a detrimental effect on the environment with a very wide range of consequences. The harmful effects on the environment are primarily reflected in disturbances in astronomical observations, inducing hormonal disorders in humans working at night, in plants disturbing vegetation cycles in plants, disorienting birds in space, sea turtle cubs and some other animal species, which all together directly affects at their survival, often causing changes in the habitat of endangered animal species. This has led to the development of scotobiology, which as a branch of biology deals with the benefits of darkness and helps to establish a safe level of brightness, duration and color of night illumination to avoid the harmful effects of light pollution on the living world. Given that there is a need to protect the environment as a whole, and human health as well, from light pollution, it is necessary to take appropriate measures to educate the public about the potential adverse effects of light pollution while at the same time improving legislation in this area of environmental protection, because only through valid legal framework for the adoption of regulations on protection against light pollution, it is possible to reduce, if not completely eliminate, the harmful effects of light pollution in the environment. |
