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What if there was a way to save on energy costs, lower your carbon emissions, and help cute little birds? A number of organizations in Pittsburgh have an initiative designed to do all three.

BirdSafe Pittsburgh, a program out of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, have announced the details of the 2022 Lights Out Pittsburgh campaign. The effort encourages lights to be turned off in businesses and in homes during peak migration hours, between midnight and 6 a.m. from March 15 to May 31. The museum claims that doing this will help prevent nocturnal migrating birds from being disoriented by artificial lights in the night sky, which could lead to accidental injury or death.

Lights Out Pittsburgh was originally launched in September 2021 by the museum, in partnership with BNY Mellon, the Building Owners and Managers Association of Pittsburgh, the National Aviary, and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. The mission of the campaign is to invite partners to join a “growing national community of businesses and residences by turning off as much internal and external building light as possible — particularly in upper floors and lobbies — during the hours.”

The museum claims that more than 100,000 birds pass over the Pittsburgh region each year during the fall and spring migrations. The museum also suggests that, according to research, these birds are at risk of colliding into windows, making bright, unnatural light one of the “leading causes of bird fatalities.”

Lights Out recruited 75 buildings in its inaugural year, and this year, the museum hopes to increase that number.

“Bringing a Lights Out program to Pittsburgh last fall culminated a long-time professional goal,” says Jonathan Rice, who serves as the museum’s Urban Bird Conservation Coordinator and as manager for BirdSafe Pittsburgh. “Now it’s time to build on that. Eight years of research has shown us where birds collide in our city. This Lights Out program is the first step in making Pittsburgh a safer place for birds stopping over during migration, or who live here year-round.”

Rice is referring to research BirdSafe Pittsburgh has conducted since 2014, through which the organization has coordinated volunteers to “monitor key neighborhoods during migration periods, collecting data documenting bird fatalities and providing care to birds with injuries caused by window collisions.”

Pittsburgh is one of many cities to adopt a Lights Out program as a way to help migrating birds. The National Audubon Society, one of the leading authorities on bird conservation, traces Lights Out back to Toronto, Canada in 1991, but says the effort has become more popular over the last two decades.

In 2014, the Audubon Society cited a study by The Condor: Ornithological Applications, estimating that 365 to 988 million birds are killed when they “smash into structures.” It goes on to point out how, within one week alone in 2017, nearly 400 birds were killed in window collisions due to the intense floodlights from a 32-story Texas skyscraper.

Lights Out Pittsburgh points to other benefits of the campaign, including lowering energy costs and carbon emissions. For example, the Ohio Bird Conservancy claims that Lights Out Wilmington resulted in an estimated savings of $6,000 per year for a 20-story building participating in the program.

The latest Lights Out Pittsburgh campaign will include buildings associated with BNY Mellon, Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Science Center, and Point Park University. Also involved is Eleven Stanwix, the House Building, the Law & Finance Building, the Union Trust Building, and the United Steelworkers’ Building, as well as properties at 100 Ross, 20 Stanwix, and 600 Waterfront.

“I am proud that BNY Mellon initiated this movement in the city of Pittsburgh,” says BNY Mellon representative, Christina Bencho, in a press release, adding, “As one of the largest building owners in the city, this is a topic we felt passionate about moving forward.”