Atlanta Falcons. Philadelphia Eagles. Arizona Cardinals. Seattle Seahawks (aka Osprey). Baltimore Ravens. Those are all NFL teams with bird names in them. You can't tell me that birds aren't important to football fans (or that people who are concerned about the new stadium design are anti-football).
If you don't know why it's a big deal that the Vikings need to consider bird safe windows for their new stadium, read this--there's video that gives you an idea of the many birds who pass over our heads at night during spring and fall migration.
The Vikings have an opportunity to show that they can be greener than the Green Bay Packers by making a shift to fritted glass which has a permanent pattern incorporated in the glass during fabrication. The pattern can be subtle (like a uniform dot or stripe) or bold (say a pattern or I don't know, maybe a logo like a big Viking).
Here's the crazy thing about fritted glass--it was developed to help with energy efficiency and not to be a deterrent to migrating birds, that's just one of the benefits. So even though this increases the close to 1 billion dollar construction budget by less-than-one-tenth of one percent, the Vikings would save money in the long run by having energy efficient glass that would reduce glare and decrease the amount of light penetrating a building.
We've mentioned in the podcast that a study is being conducted on migratory birds to see what kinds of glass they recognize in flight (without the birds actually hitting a window). Fritted glass was tested and over 70% of the birds tested recognized it as a barrier and avoided it. Energy efficient and not a death trap to migratory birds...this seems like a win-win for the Vikings and the birds. And really, couldn't Vikings use some good publicity as opposed to what they're in the news for lately?
It's still not too late to fix this. The Vikings could still change the glass. Let them know how you feel by signing the petition (even I signed it), if you live in Minnesota, contact your legislators, if you live out of state spread the word and if you have a home with windows that is prone to birds flying into it, see if you can take steps to minimize the damage yourself.