New York City turns off lights to help birds
2015.05.06
THE government of New York City (紐約市) in the United States (美國) has announced a plan to turn off the lights in some of its major buildings at night during spring and autumn. Can you guess why? No, the main reason is not to save energy, although that will be a nice side-effect.
They are doing so in order to save birds! During spring and autumn, many birds migrate from one place to another. At night, they depend on the stars to help them work out the directions. But the bright lights of the buildings often confuse them and make them lose their way or hurt themselves!
The phenomenon, called ‘fatal light attraction’, has killed an estimated 500 million to one billion birds annually in the US, according to US Department of Agriculture data. Therefore, the NYC government thought of this wonderful plan.
