“The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

The night sky is an integral part of man’s order in creation, acting as a companion through history. The night sky was above Adam while he slept and God created Eve; Abraham was promised descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; the Blessed Mother was given a crown of seven stars. After the Fall, man’s duty to steward creation was blurred, and with the rise of modern industrial thinking, generally forgotten. The night sky, this constant reminder of God’s glory, is being removed every night by light pollution. This failure in stewardship has many spiritual effects on humans, such as losing beauty, a transcendental bringing us closer to God, and a losing of our sense of place in the universe. It also has physical effects on all of creation, leading to migratory animals dying and habitation loss. As Pope Benedict says, “The way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself, and vice versa” (Caritas in Veritate, §51). Light pollution, defined as the overuse of artificial lighting, is a clear case study which shows that when man neglects his duty to care for creation, creation and humanity suffer the consequences.

Light pollution is a valuable case study because, as of 2025, it affects around 80% of all humans on earth. Dark Sky International, a group focused on educating about light pollution, says that “In the United States and Europe, 99% of the public can’t experience a natural night.” On top of all this, those Americans and Europeans who live in the actual cities have a high chance of not being able to see a single star in the sky. Light pollution is not something to take lightly.

Mismanagement of nature on this scale must necessarily produce effects. Light pollution’s large scope means that it has a large impact on creation, not just the economy through wasted electricity. One startling example of nature being affected is in habitat loss. An article by the National Wildlife Foundation states, “Like roads and fences, artificial light can create barriers that fragment habitat. Many slow-flying bats, for example… avoid feeding in or even passing through illuminated areas because it exposes them to predators such as owls and other birds of prey.” All elements of nature are affected by this wasteful abuse of God’s gift of creation.

What are the impacts on the human soul due to this negligence of our duty towards keeping God’s command? Pope Francis said in Laudato si’ that “The misuse of creation begins when we no longer recognize any higher instance than ourselves, when we see nothing else but ourselves” (§6). The vast majority of humanity views God’s creation through a human lens. They can see nothing else but themselves. This disordering of creation leads to what Pope Francis calls “modern anthropocentrism” where humans have made themselves the purpose and center of the universe. Light pollution is just this; modern cities cannot see anything but their own light, shunning God’s light. Isolating men from the majesty of the heavens, which has a profound humbling effect, shows us just how small we are. Humanity has a role as a steward, not as the King. The abuse of creation makes humans forget this.

This idea predates Pope Francis, as seen in the American Transcendentalist Movement. Aldo Leopold, one of the major thinkers of the Transcendentalist, said, “In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the landcommunity to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow members, and also respect for the community as such” (The Land Ethic, 2). Leopold touches on the point of distinction between a proper attitude towards nature, a “land ethic,” and the modern extractive mentality towards nature.

The American Transcendentalists were not Catholic thinkers because their ideas hinged on a sort of paganism about nature. Nevertheless, their ideas can be baptized and put into communion with Catholic thought. The Transcendentalists mistook nature itself as a transcendental, something that brings the person experiencing it closer to a pantheistic “Oversoul.” However, the Catholic idea is a bit different, accepting three transcendentals which bring the soul closer to God: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. The beauty and goodness of nature is what brings someone closer, not to a pantheistic Oversoul like the American Transcendentalists thought, but to an all-loving Creator. The Catechism says, “God created the world to show forth and communicate his glory. That his creatures should share in his truth, goodness, and beauty – this is the glory for which God created them” (319). The beauty of the Heavens necessarily raises the soul to contemplate God, like a great evangelist. It was for all of history the most accessible sign of God’s beauty, the most accessible sign pointing to God. Through man’s anthropocentrism that Transcendental is lost.

The loss of this Transcendental is not the only poverty of modern anthropocentric ecological attitudes. By losing the beauty of the sky, modernity has brought other ills upon itself. In his concluding speech to the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI says, “Beauty, like truth, brings joy to the human heart and is that precious fruit which resists the erosion of time, which unites generations and enables them to be one in admiration!” With the loss of the night sky modernity has separated itself not only from God, but from humans past and future. It has separated itself from that same sky which was over all those great biblical events and a beauty which resisted the erosion of time until modern ecological attitudes decided it was not worth it.

Light pollution can be controlled and mitigated. Already there are groups and legislation fighting against excessive artificial lighting and protecting vulnerable ecosystems from light pollution. As important as mitigating these symptoms is, it is just as important to fight the root causes of light pollution: human greed, a disordered anthropocentrism, and our “throwaway culture.” The current state of our modern disordered world prioritizes human creations over God’s beauty. This both removes beauty from our world, but also separates us from our patrimony and gives us nothing to pass to our children. These disorders also abuse the creation which God gave us to protect. Light pollution is a visible sign of these issues, showing that when man neglects his duty to care for creation, both creation and humanity suffer the consequences.