It is wholly a confusion to suppose that more efficient lighting leads to diminished consumption. The evidence from space says otherwise.
The Milky Way, the brilliant river of stars that has dominated the night sky and human imaginations since time immemorial, is but a faded memory to one third of humanity according to a new global atlas of light pollution.
From the medieval candle to phosphorescent trees and glow-in-the-dark concrete, Daryl Mersom charts the trajectory of urban light, and asks how the problem of light pollution can be tackled in the modern era
