Are LED Lights Killing Us All?

I cycle everywhere. It’s part of my rhythm, my resistance. But in recent years, the ride has become a gauntlet — not of traffic, but of light.

LED headlights blaze like searchlights. Drivers switch to full beam on approach as if cyclists are curiosities to be examined. I’ve had to stop mid-ride, blinded, waiting for the glare to pass before I could move again.

It’s not just cyclists. Drivers, too, are quitting night travel. Wildlife is vanishing. People with neurological conditions are suffering. And insects — the quiet architects of our ecosystems — are dying in droves.

Studies show LED streetlights reduce moth caterpillar populations by over 50%. The insect apocalypse is not a metaphor. It’s a measurable collapse. And when the insects die, we die.

Still, the obsession grows: brighter gardens, brighter streets, brighter everything. Even the bat boxes glow. And local councils ignore the warnings.

This isn’t just about visibility. It’s about ecological blindness. LED lighting is another thread in the tapestry of collapse — alongside petrochemicals, factory farms, and the myth of endless growth.

When the lights finally go out, those left behind may look back and wonder how we let it happen. How we feared the dark so much, we lit our way to extinction.

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