Air Quality regulation saved 1.5 billion birds
UPHE works to clean our air to protect human health. But along the way, if there are benefits to wildlife that makes it even more worthwhile.
A new study has found that ozone reductions driven by the Clean Air Act have saved the lives of 1.5 billion birds, which is about 20% of the country’s entire bird population. Read more here. Bear in mind this is only the benefit of ozone reduction. The study did not address the additional benefit of PM2.5 reductions from the Clean Air Act.
The bad news is that ozone levels are creeping up again, from new pollution sources, like wildfires and more VOCs from oil and gas drilling, and from hotter atmospheric temperatures from global warming. Read more here.
We are fighting the inland port to protect Utahns, but saving some of the millions of birds that nest along the Great Salt Lake is certainly worth doing all by itself. Saving wildlife isn’t just for pretty pictures. Wildlife are essential to the same intact ecosystems that humans depend on for our survival.
The results indicate that ozone pollution is especially harmful to small migratory birds, such as sparrows, warblers, and finches, which make up 86% of all North American bird species on land. It harms birds by damaging their respiratory system, and it also affects them by harming their food sources.
“Not only can ozone cause direct physical damage to birds, but it also can compromise plant health and reduce numbers of the insects that birds consume,” says Prof. Amanda Rodewald, director of the Center for Avian Population Studies at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
“Not surprisingly, birds that cannot access high-quality habitat or food resources are less likely to survive or reproduce successfully,” Rodewald says. “The good news here is that environmental policies intended to protect human health return important benefits for birds too.”
https://www.sustainability-times.com/clean-cities/better-air-quality-has-saved-1-5-billion-birds-in-the-us/?fbclid=IwAR2KrEbNwFIAK5c5XnzFYoqI85-D-1D2t2srwyUL0M9Hl_j8LsMB3NXaWsQ