Recently, the internet has been flooded with this image taken by NASA of North Korea.
I assume that this is to show how backward North Korea is and how terrible their infrastructure and technology is. While I don’t doubt that North Korea isn’t a first world country and its people are living in some of the harshest conditions imaginable, this picture doesn’t illustrate that for me.
Look at South Korea, which is technologically advanced and obviously has an very strong infrastructure. It’s so strong that they can waste electrical energy like that. Look at how bright it is. There’s almost no place left that is just plain dark anymore.
When I was a small child, I was afraid of the dark. Part of that is from a cat jumping in my bed while I was asleep and me having a 4-year-old apocalyptic screaming fit. But now, I like the dark. Even the street lights bother me and make it hard for me to sleep. And I live almost in the country.
Look at this image of the US (also from NASA).
The amount of light that is being used solely to illuminate the sky is staggering. It’s almost impossible to pick out the major cities in Florida and the northern East coast because of the amount of light pollution. And it is a form of pollution.
I really wonder how much electrical energy is being wasted. Even in the desert and high mountains, you can see outposts of light, pushing back the darkness. Even when humans are adults, we’re still scared of the dark.
I don’t know if this hurts or helps us more… this amount of wasted light.
I found this comparison of the night skies on Gizmodo.
I know many people who, for all intents and purposes, have never been in full dark and think that stars are something you rarely ever see.
This is what the night sky really looks like.
This is something that the average North Korean can see every night… and many of us never see.
