Artificial lighting on nesting beaches disorients sea turtle hatchlings, which use natural light gradients to find the ocean — causing them to travel inland where they die from exhaustion, predation, or traffic.
Hatchlings disoriented by artificial lighting travel in the wrong direction, often reaching roads, parking lots, or developed areas. They die from dehydration, predation, vehicle strikes, or exhaustion before anyone finds them. This is a mass welfare harm occurring on thousands of beaches globally every nesting season — and it is entirely preventable through simple lighting modifications. The gap between available solutions and implementation is a straightforward failure of human responsibility.