Lights Out Philly Initiative Will Save Birds From Building Collisions
More than 15 years of advocacy, and one particularly galvanizing bird kill event, have created the momentum necessary for widespread adoption of the Lights Out Philly initiative. April 14, 2021, 6am PDT | James Brasuell |
Nate Berg reports that the city of Philadelphia is finally taking collective action to prevent bird deaths from collisions with buildings. Beginning April 1, and running for the duration of both the spring and autumn bird migration periods, buildings across Philadelphia will be voluntarily turning off their lights at night, writes Berg.
The voluntary effort is the result of advocacy work by Audubon Mid-Atlantic dating back to 2006. But the final straw was a particularly devastating episode in October 2020, when a rare convergence of the semiannual migration period and bad weather, along with lights left on buildings, combined to kill more than 1,000 birds in one night.