Researcher(s):
Anna Blythe Travis Meng Hannah Smay
ENVS course(s): 220 Initiated: November 2014 Completed: December 2014 Go to project site
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Thousands of birds migrate across North America every year, flying between their winter and summer habitats. Across the continent, urban areas have presented a significant risk for migratory birds, which often fly at night. Because of artificial lighting that illuminates cities throughout the night, these migratory birds are drawn into these urban areas. Because of the illuminated buildings and reflective glass, many birds meet their death through collisions with glass and sheer exhaustion. Organizations such as the Audubon Society advocate of behalf of these at-risk bird populations for cities to dim or extinguish excess nighttime lighting. This brings ups dilemmas surrounding human safety and crime on the darkened or illuminated city streets. Balancing human and nonhuman well being is a dilemma all human settlements face.
Located near Pacific Flyway migration route, Portland, Oregon presents a significant risk to migrating birds along this route. In 2011, Portland Audubon launched Lights Out, a program where commercial buildings volunteer to dim their lights at night during migration seasons. We are curious to see how the Audubon Society portrays the balance between human and avian well-being. We are curious about patterns of outdoor lighting and crime in Portland as well as the rhetorical strategies utilized by the Audubon Society.
Key Questions
Framing Question: How can we design human settlements to balance nonhuman and human well-being?
Focus Question: How does Lights Out Portland use outdoor lighting to balance bird and human safety?
Methodology
To gain an understanding of the context of Portland in the Pacific Flyway bird migration route, we used spatial data to map the Important Bird Areas along this route. In addition to this examination of bird activity, we gathered spatial data about crime rates and street lights in Portland. We compared crime statistics from the Portland Police Bureau with heat maps of light density in Portland in order to understand the patterns and correlations between outdoor lighting and crime. Additionally, we examined the webpage for Lights Out Portland to extract the morals and foundational arguments employed by the Audubon Society to promote Lights Out Portland.
Findings
Portland is indeed an important bird migration area where migrating birds interact with the human built environment of the city. This means that Portland is a place where birds and humans are both affected by outdoor lighting in significant ways. From our analysis of crime rates and lighting maps, there appears to be some sort of correlation between lights and crime, perhaps because where there are lights, there are people. This suggests that outdoor lighting does have a relationship to human safety and that darkness is perhaps more safe than bright lights. From the Audubon webpage, we discovered that Lights Out Portland connects both human and non-human well-being to the initiative using the language of volunteerism and individual choice.