In 1971, my husband and I bought our first car. We were poor undergraduates, but we chose a new Ford Pinto rather than a more affordable used clunker because we were committed to conserving natural resources. At the time, gasoline in East Lansing, Michigan, cost about 26.9 cents a gallon, and in a “gas war,” two competing gas stations might bring their prices down to 17.9! Squandering natural resources was the order of the day, but by 1974, gas had more than doubled in price and suddenly that Pinto was proving to be economical.

That’s the way it is with energy conservation. When Toronto, Chicago, and other cities started “lights out” programs to encourage people who maintain high-rise buildings or live in high-rise apartments to turn off lights on migration nights, not only were many thousands of birds saved, but electric bills dropped. When people switch to walking or biking to work, they save money and natural resources, and also get into better physical shape and have some breathing space to enjoy the out of doors. Many alternatives to squandering energy really are “win-win.”

As part of sustainability efforts at the Lab, staff volunteers take turns bringing home compostable garbage from our workplace.

I’m proud to work at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where our staff is committed to our mission, “to interpret and conserve the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds.” It’s exciting to see scientific research working on ways to minimize bird kills at wind turbines as this new technology takes off. It’s thrilling to see our Bioacoustics Research Program working with energy companies to minimize the impacts of exploration and oil tanker traffic on land and sea. Many of our research projects focus on habitat, helping to elucidate critical issues when an energy project and a species’ needs collide. Our citizen-science programs provide opportunities for tens of thousands of people to learn about their local birds, and our websites, publications, and multimedia productions engage even more people in birds and their fascinating behaviors, promoting real understanding about why taking the health of the natural world into account in our energy policies is so vital. And it’s gratifying to serve as part of a staff that works hard to conserve right here in our workplace, through our Cornell Lab of Ornithology Group for Sustainability.

To effect change on a meaningful scale, issues must be addressed that are far bigger than one person or one institution can hope to solve. Learning about the high costs of our energy consumption to the environment and wildlife can be scary. But knowledge is power. Being mindful of our personal consumption of natural resources and lowering our impact where we can, individually and collectively, really does lead to win-win situations, both for us and the birds we love.

—Laura Erickson