Target: Mark Kelly, Chair of U.S. Senate Environment Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Goal: Advocate for building designs and renovations that will keep birds safe.
A classic horror movie depicts a widespread attack of humans by birds, but the real-life horror involves the mass deaths of birds resulting from human creations. North America’s largest convention center alone claimed the lives of an estimated 1,000 birds in just one day. This startling finding came following an evaluation of bird carcasses littering the area surrounding Chicago’s McCormick Place during a high period of avian migration. Experts estimate the actual number could be much higher because of injured birds flying away and dying elsewhere. Each year, over a billion birds are believed to die from impacts with buildings and other structures.
McCormick Place highlights one of the major factors leading to this high number of deaths. The building is made almost entirely of glass, making it an easy target of traveling birds. Chicago, at least, has acknowledged the problem by enacting a new law that would mandate bird-friendly designs in new building construction and in old renovations. Such designs would include visible dots or patterns on reflective surfaces that would give birds better visibility.
If such an initiative gained nationwide support, countless avian lives could be saved. Sign the petition below to urge lawmakers to give this horror story a happy ending.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Senator Kelly,
Birds are an invaluable part of our ecosystems: dispersing seeds, eliminating pests, and reminding us of the beauty of nature by land and by air. Yet every year, an estimated billion birds die from an entirely preventable cause: building collisions. One major city has responded by enacting the Bird Safe Buildings Act, which requires that bird-friendly designs such as visual markers be incorporated into both building designs and renovations.
As chair of the Environment Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, please help spread this effort countrywide by supporting a similar initiative at the federal level.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Matteus Silva
Future buildings designed to keep birds safe from collision deaths makes sense. We can’t wait for this to happen as it will take years. Until then just turn off the damn lights. Save electricity and Save birds too!