Paul Bogard Featured on NPR

Dr. Paul Bogard, English Professor and CEES Fellow, was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered last week to comment on the effect of light pollution around the world. Bogard has written extensively on the negative impacts of the increasingly bright lights on buildings, storefronts, street corners, and signs – particularly in large cities such as New York or France.

“Things like gas stations and parking lots are lit now 10 times as bright as they were just 20 years ago,” told Celeste Headlee, weekend host of All Things Considered.

Commenters from a variety of fields weighed in on the variety of issues connected to this increase, including deleterious effects to a person’s health and sleeping patterns. Some researchers have found increased exposure to artificial light is even connected to the production of melatonin in the body, which can lead to cancer.

Dr. Bogard received his B.A. from Carleton College in Religion, an M.A. in English from the University of New Mexico and his Ph.D. in English, Literature, and Environment from the University of Nevada at Reno. He began teaching at Wake Forest University in 2010 and has written many reviews, articles, and books, including his edited anthology Let There Be Night: Testimony on behalf of the dark and his forthcoming book End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light.

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