EVERYONE knows that turning off the lights saves energy — but did you know it can save birds too?
Migratory birds are drawn to lights in skyscrapers, an attraction that too often causes them to crash into the buildings’ plate-glass windows or die of exhaustion after flying confusedly around a light source.
Turning out the lights of city skyscrapers is helping to save the lives of thousands of birds migrating across North American cities to their spring breeding grounds.
Bird lovers in some cities have been urging owners, managers and tenants of buildings that lie on north-south migration flyways to keep their structures dark at night to reduce the number of birds killed in the spring and fall migration months.
Tall buildings, whose tenants often leave signage and office space brightly lit at night, have long been recognized as a danger to migrating birds. Nobody knows how many perish after being drawn to the light and die from the impact of a collision or from exhaustion, but most estimates are in the tens of thousands in the United States each year.
Dr Daniel Klem, a biology professor at the Muhlenberg College estimates the number of birds killed in the United States each year by colliding with buildings could be as high as one billion. “I think that’s a conservative estimate. Birds just don’t see glass,” he said.
Bird-watchers report that efforts to reduce the amount of distracting artificial light significantly lowers the number of birds killed.
Chicago leads US efforts to reduce migration casualties. About 30 major city-center buildings turn out their lights. At McCormick Place, a large lakefront convention center, ornithologists found that bird mortality declined by about 80 per cent over a two-year period. Almost all of the buildings in Chicago that should turn lights out during migration now do so. Buildings turn out their lights between 11pm and dawn, ending mass kills that sometimes resulted in janitors in the morning shovelling piles of dead birds off the sidewalks and into trash bags.
Particularly distressing for bird lovers is the danger posed to rare or declining species. Among the known casualties is the Kirtland’s warbler, one of America’s rarest birds, whose US breeding population numbers just a few hundred in northern Michigan.
While brightly-lit buildings are one of the major causes of bird deaths, the solution is remarkably simple and cheap, says Michael Mesure of FLAP (Fatal Light Awareness Program). “There is no environmental issue that is as easy to overcome. Turn off the lights and the problem disappears.”
Protecting the bones
By Dr Fatema Jawad
OSTEOPOROSIS is a silent disease of the bones that makes them weak and prone to fractures, states a recent issue of the Medicine Digest. Bone is in a constant state of regeneration with the old bone being removed and replaced by new bone. By the mid 30s this balance shifts and more bone is lost than replaced. This process is silent as there are no symptoms. Fractures can occur even after a minor injury and the most common site is the spine, wrist or hip.
The major risk factors for osteoporosis are old age, non-Hispanic and Asian ethnic background, family history of osteoporosis, sex hormone deficiency, Anorexia Nervosa, cigarette smoking, alcohol abuse, low dietary intake of calcium and vitamin D, sedentary lifestyle and certain drugs as cortisone and phenytoin. Thyroid and adrenal disorders can also cause osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis is diagnosed by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), a quick and painless test with very little radiation. Treatment includes enough calcium in the diet along with adequate vitamin D. Exercise especially weight bearing exercise is necessary. Drug therapy consists of biphosphonates, pills that have to be taken on an empty stomach with water. They help in slowing down the bone loss. Calcitonin is a hormone from the thyroid gland given either as an injection or nasal spray.
Selective estrogen receptor modulators mimic estrogen and help in decreasing spine fractures in women. Teriparatide is a form of parathyroid hormone stimulates bone formation and is used in elderly women as a daily injection for up to two years.
Prevention is achieved through lifestyle changes with exercise, a balanced diet, stopping smoking and treating underlying medical conditions.
Hair Asia Pacific
AFTER intense competition, Team Pakistan emerged as the winner of the Most Outstanding Country Performer at the recently held Hair Asia Pacific 2004 in Shanghai, China. This triumph was later celebrated at a reception in Karachi.
The Hair Asia Pacific contest attracted more than 200 of the top hair stylists and beauticians from China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan.
Of the various awards in the offing, Pakistan’s Syeda Sajeda Zahra Gardezi from Multan won the Most Outstanding Country Performer. Shirin Amin from Karachi also did Pakistan proud as she claimed the 1st runner-up trophy in the Nail Art Competition.
EVERYONE knows that turning off the lights saves energy — but did you know it can save birds too?
