park

Saving birds from buildings

July 1, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Researchers estimate that hundreds of millions of birds die hitting buildings every year in the United States. Striking buildings is believed to be one of the major factors behind the nearly 30% decline in North American bird populations since 1970.

Chicago is one of the most dangerous cities for migrating birds based on its location and its numerous tall, glassy buildings. Migrating birds that make their homes in forests and grasslands don’t perceive glass as solid and are confused by reflections.

While many Chicago skyscrapers are dangerous for birds, the Lakeside Center at McCormick Place is infamous for the fact that it claimed the lives of nearly a thousand birds on a single day in October 2023.

There are various strategies for reducing bird strikes. Over decades, McCormick Place management has tried erecting strips of netting, broadcasting calls of birds of prey, and putting up silhouettes of them. They commissioned a nine-acre park of native prairie and woodlands on the roof of a parking deck. None of these things made a major difference.

Last summer, the building installed a pattern of dots over the surface of the building’s windows. The dots are only a couple of inches apart, so even tiny hummingbirds don’t try to dart through. The window treatment cost $1.2 million paid for by the state of Illinois. People in the building scarcely notice the dots. Their views of the city and lake are unimpaired.

The results are nothing short of remarkable. During last fall’s migration, bird deaths were down by about 95% compared with the two previous autumns. This spring’s migration has been with implications for glassy structures far beyond Chicago.

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An Illinois Building Was a Bird Killer. A Simple Change Made a World of Difference.

Photo, posted May 19, 2023, courtesy of Warren LeMay via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The Largest Renewable Energy Project In The World | Earth Wise

January 28, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

India has broken ground on what is planned to be the largest renewable energy project in the world: a 30-gigawatt wind and solar power project in the state of Gujarat.

The renewable energy park will have two zones: a 122,000-acre hybrid park zone that will accommodate 25 gigawatts of wind and solar power plants and a 57,000-acre zone entirely dedicated to wind power. Multiple developers will be building the power plants in the hybrid zone. A single company has been allotted the wind power zone. The selected developers have to develop 50% of the total generation capacity in the next 3 years and finish the project in five years. The project is expected to create jobs for 100,000 people. Total investment in the project will be about $20 billion.

This is not technically a single standalone project but is rather an aggregation of multiple projects in a single general area. Nonetheless, it represents the largest renewable energy development ever. By comparison, the entire United States has a total of 50 gigawatts of installed solar power in large plants – which does not include any rooftop solar. Total wind power capacity in the U.S. is a little over 100 gigawatts. So, the 30-gigawatt Indian project is huge by any measure.

India already gets over 30% of its electricity from renewable sources, making it one of the largest renewable energy markets in the world. The country has a goal of 60% renewable energy by 2030, amounting to 450 gigawatts of capacity. This will require the country to double its already substantial renewable capacity in less than 10 years. The Gujarat energy park will represent substantial progress towards that goal.

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Largest Renewable Energy Project In World Will Be 30 Gigawatt Solar–Wind Project In India

Photo, posted October 16, 2019, courtesy of Jonathan Cutrer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Your Children’s Yellowstone

January 25, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the US and according to some sources, the first in the world. It is the home of charismatic megafauna and stunning geysers that attract over four million visitors a year. It is the only place in the United States where bison and wolves can be seen in great numbers. And it is changing.

Over the next few decades of climate change, Yellowstone will quite likely see increased fire, less forest, expanding grasslands, shallower, warmer waterways, and more invasive plants. All these things will alter how and how many animals move through the landscape. Ecosystems are always changing, but climate change is transforming habitats so quickly that many plants and animals may not be able to make the transition at all.

Since 1948, the average annual temperature in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem has gone up by 2 degrees Fahrenheit. On balance, winter is 10 days shorter and less cold. The Northern Rockies snowpack has fallen to its lowest level in eight centuries. Summers in the park are warmer, drier, and increasingly prone to fire.

Non-nutritious invasive plants like cheatgrass and desert madwort have replaced nutritious native plants. When plants like these take over, they suck moisture out of the ground early so that bison and elk cannot be sustained throughout the summer.

The behavior of elk and other animals is already changing, with many staying outside the park to nibble lawns and alfalfa fields. In turn, wolves go where the elk go. Forests and waterways are changing as well.

The rapid changes going on at Yellowstone mean that the park that our children and grandchildren will visit in the future is likely to be a very different one from the Yellowstone we remember.

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