Light pollution: Why should we care?

The historical development of lighting technologies has been characterized by what evolution theorists call 'punctuated equilibrium': a succession of long periods of stable development followed by short periods of rapid change when key technological breakthroughs give rise to new lighting paradigms. Nowadays with the massive deployment of LED-based solid state lighting systems the illumination field is undergoing one of such accelerated transformation events. In parallel, a growing body of research has unveiled some of the complex interactions between the daily cycles of light and darkness and the regulating mechanisms of individuals, populations and ecosystems, including humans. This communication addresses some of the challenges that this new situation poses for the development of sustainable lighting systems.