My friend told me today that she had heard something about Cleveland turning off the lights downtown at night. I found an article on Cleveland.com that talked about the new effort bird enthusiasts are making to get Cleveland to turn off the lights after 11:00 PM this spring to save the lives of migrating birds. Apparently, the lights from many of the skyscrapers disorient the birds causing them to crash into the buildings. Although there is no information available as to how many birds die each year in Cleveland because of this reason, but is estimated to be a dangerous route for birds because it is supposibly located in the middle of a busy migratory path, prone to severe weather, high winds and low clouds. These bird enthusiast are also taking the angle that this would save the city money on electricity. Those who oppose turing the lights off are afriad of losing the lit-up skyline that many people enjoy well into the night. An agreement is hoped to be reach by the end of spring. I was wondering if any people had an opinion on this. Is this really a problem and are actions necessary?
For more information, visit the article at http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/03/post_252.html
Personally I think this is a bad idea. It's one thing if it's an energy saving effort, but to be driven by the migratory path and light disorientation cause sounds really silly to me. I mean, if birds are flying into the skyscrapers while the lights are on, how are they going to avoid them with the lights OFF?
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