We have all noticed that our year has begun with seemingly never ending construction around the arts building. Workers have slowly but surely been moving around the perimeter of our school drilling and hammering away. This has caused much annoyance for students and teachers alike with classes having to be temporarily relocated during the periods of construction. This construction has left many individuals within the Whitney Young community wondering what the point is.
The answer to this question to put it simply is, our planet. Human impact on our planet, both on the environment and life has been extreme. Hunting, destruction of habitats, and climate change has decimated wildlife populations. According to springbrook nature center “The rapid loss of species we are seeing today is estimated by experts to be between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate”. Birds are animals that are very negatively affected by humans. Throughout my time at Whitney Young I have seen numerous dead birds outside of the school, these visuals are often accompanied by stories of loud bangs being heard within the classroom, followed by the image of a lifeless bird plummeting to the ground. Windows are huge killers of birds. These birds often see reflections of trees or wildlife on glass windows. They are unable to identify that the windows are there and fly directly into the windows, without slowing down. They hope to reach a tree that is being reflected in the window, but instead crash into a glass pane. Over fifty percent of these collisions are fatal. The Smithsonian reported “that between 365 and 988 million birds (median = 599 million) are killed annually by building collisions in the U.S.”
The windows that are being installed provide a modern look for us humans, and a life saving look for the surrounding birds. They are coated in an ultraviolet glaze that is basically invisible to the human eye but appears as a solid color to birds. Birds are able to identify the windows as being a physical surface as opposed to being invisible or reflecting the surrounding nature.
Students may have also noticed how the buildings get extremely hot during the warmer weeks of the year, and frigid during the winter months. With temperatures inside rooms grazing the 90s earlier this year. This heat has adverse effects on education. According to Harvard Kennedy School, “students scored lower when they had just experienced a hot school year than when they had just experienced a cool school year.” The new windows hope to solve this problem, by adding insulation to our school’s perimeter. Standard windows can be very thin, allowing outside air to drastically influence the temperature inside. The AC is often unable to keep up with the high temperatures, leading to unit failure as they can work themselves to death. The windows being installed are triple paned, which will lead to the heating and cooling of our school to be much more energy efficient, as less energy will be wasted.
The next time you grumble about the loud noises or the relocation of class, remind yourself that it is imperative to take action that defends and protects our planet. Remind yourself that these new windows save the lives of birds and reduce our carbon footprint, while also providing comfort during scorching hot days.