Our ancestors enjoyed a cleaner world. The water and air were cleaner, and when people went out at night, they could look at the stars above and ask questions about our place in the universe. Nowadays, in modern cities, we can barely see the stars at night because our view of them is not only obscured by the quality of the air, but by the quality of light as well. Not many people realize that the misuse or misdirection of light is a form of pollution. Quite simply, it is called light pollution.