A Reddit user shared their dismay over the retina-melting brightness of a billboard blighting the Cincinnati night sky.
"In disbelief at this new billboard that burns with the fury of a thousand suns," the caption of the troubling image reads. The comments echoed this sentiment.
"Wow that is ridiculous," said one commenter. Another quipped, "You sure that's not just the headlights of a Ford F-250 coming at you?" One user said, "Light pollution makes life worse." This prompted a tongue-in-cheek response from another Redditor, who wrote, "Gotta get rid of those pesky stars so we can put ads in orbit and not be distracted by checks notes beautiful and culturally significant planets and constellations."
As the comments suggest, light pollution is a widespread issue across the developed world. A map produced by the U.S. National Park Service shows the extent of the problem. Naturally dark areas are shrinking worldwide at a rate of 2.2% annually. This doesn't just ruin people's enjoyment of the night sky; it also has serious implications for wildlife and the ecosystem. For example, millions of sea turtle hatchlings in Florida die each year because they're attracted to the bright lights of the cities instead of the ocean, per DarkSky.
Intrusive advertising also fuels overconsumption and the dire ecological consequences that result.
By 2026, the world is on track to increase its consumption of natural resources by 60% from 2020 levels, according to a United Nations study. Such a ruinous rate of consumerism is unsustainable in the long run. Global actions have local effects. All those goods have to go somewhere when we're done with them, and ever-filling landfills are an escalating problem for states and municipalities.
Amid the anger, there were a few suggestions about what to do. One commenter suggested taking local action, as seemingly small things can make a difference: "Show up to city council meetings and make a big stink of it. If enough people are annoying enough they might do something."
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