| | | | | | | Presented By Robin Powered | | | | Axios What's Next | | By Alex Fitzpatrick, Jennifer A. Kingson and Joann Muller · Oct 24, 2022 | | Architects and building designers have plenty to consider with each new project — and now there's a push to get them to be thoughtful about our feathered friends on high, Alex reports today. Today's newsletter is 1,109 words ... 4 minutes. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Better buildings for the birds |  | | | Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios | | | | Amid this year's fall migration season, avian advocates are amplifying their calls to help birds avoid flying into buildings — a major threat to big raptors and tiny warblers alike, Alex Fitzpatrick reports. Why it matters: Between 365 million and nearly 1 billion birds are killed in building collisions every year, per an oft-cited 2014 study published in the journal The Condor. - That's bad news for all those ill-fated birds, of course. But victims' remains have a habit of piling up on the street around big skyscrapers, inviting rodents and other pests, and making things generally unpleasant.
When birds see a reflective window, they see it as blue skies ahead rather than a threat. - "We've all walked into windows at one point or another, and we've been raised around them," says Dustin Partridge, NYC Audubon's director of conservation and science. "Birds don't have that benefit of growing up and learning about architectural cues."
What can be done: Windows can be modified to be less reflective, giving birds a better chance of seeing and avoiding them. - Artificial light, meanwhile, "disorients birds because it interferes with their star navigation," the executive director of Travis Audubon, Nicole Netherton, recently wrote in a letter to Austin, Texas-area developers. "A human analogy would be driving toward an oncoming car with its high beams on."
- Dimming buildings at night can reduce bird-confusing light pollution, says the National Audubon Society. Drawing the shades when people inside work late can also help — as can "avoiding over-lighting with newer, brighter technology."
Bird strikes are a nationwide problem, but Partridge says they're a particularly big issue in New York because of the city's location on the Atlantic Flyway, a major migratory route. (Think of Central Park as a kind of JFK for birds.) Success story: Switching to bird-friendly glass turned New York City's Javits Center — a convention hall that's basically made entirely of windows — from "one of the city's major bird killers" into one of its most avian-friendly buildings, per NYC Audubon. How you can help: Local Audubon groups in various cities are asking volunteers to help collect collision data. - Such efforts can identify particularly deadly buildings, says Partridge. Groups like his can then work with building owners to address the issue.
Worth your time: The National Audubon Society recently released a stunning, first-of-its-kind interactive map showing the annual migratory patterns of more than 450 bird species. The big picture: Reducing bird deaths is about both keeping our feathered friends safe and creating better, cleaner and more livable cities. Share this story. |     | | | | | | 2. The push for climate PTO |  | | | Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios | | | | As Florida recovers from Hurricane Ian, labor advocates there say employers should offer paid time off (PTO) during climate disasters, Axios' Ayurella Horn-Muller reports. - "We saw with this hurricane that workers were not given adequate time to prepare for this storm, or time off in order to be able to collect supplies and really be able to weather the storm," Denise Diaz, co-director of Central Florida Jobs with Justice, told Axios.
State of play: No existing state or federal law requires employers to provide climate PTO. Yes, but: Some have done so regardless. Software firm Glitch, for example, began offering climate leave in 2017. - "Every single fire season, it was utilized. Every single hurricane season, it was utilized," Anil Dash, then the company's CEO, told Axios.
Between the lines: Without climate PTO, people working in low-wage jobs — who are often people of color — will continue to be disproportionately affected by climate disasters, Diaz says. Read the rest. | | | | | | | | 3. Musk closes in on Twitter |  | | | Photo illustration: Megan Robinson/Axios. Photo: Britta Pedersen-Pool/Getty Images | | | | Elon Musk's $44 billion Twitter takeover is expected to close this week. But it may not be quite that straightforward, Axios' Dan Primack and Ashley Gold report. State of play: Twitter shares opened Friday at $50, which is more than $4 below the price Musk agreed to pay. - The drop seems tied to a Bloomberg report claiming that the Biden administration may launch a national security review of certain Musk ventures. Twitter could be included, ostensibly due to equity co-investments from foreign entities.
- "We do not know of any such discussions," National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson tells Axios.
Elsewhere: There's also a Washington Post story about Musk planning massive Twitter layoffs. This tracks with what we're hearing about Musk operating as if he's about to own the company. - WaPo also reports that Twitter would implement big cuts of its own were it to remain independent, although per a subsequent company memo, the company hasn't developed any layoff plans since the Musk deal was signed in May.
Share this story. | | | | | | | | A message from Robin Powered | | Get hybrid work right. Level up your workplace strategy | | |  | | | | The conversation around hybrid work has moved past return to office logistics and onto long-term measures of success. What you need to know: Leverage insights from interviews with 200 business leaders and get practical tips for creating workplace strategies that stick. Download the free report. | | | | | | 4. AI could help — not replace — artists |  | | | Image courtesy of Adobe | | | | AI-based text-to-image generators have sparked fears of unemployment among creative-types — but Adobe sees such tech as more of a creative assistant, Axios' Ina Fried reports. Details: At its MAX conference this week, Adobe showed off a number of ways generative AI could help creative workers without supplanting artists. - In Photoshop, Adobe showed how AI could offer artists an early look at a number of different creative approaches to a subject.
- In Lightroom, Adobe showed how generative AI could be used to enable a slider that allowed the background sky of an image to be changed gradually from day to night.
- With its web-based Express tool, Adobe showed how a text prompt could be used to transform any of its thousands of fonts to incorporate other objects. In one case, Adobe merged fonts with electrical cables, and in another it infused the type with orchid petals.
Read the rest. | | | | | | | | 5. "The Sims" creator on blockchain gaming |  | | | Will Wright explains VoxVerse. Image: Gala Games/Gallium Studios | | | | Famed video game designer Will Wright (SimCity, The Sims) is making a blockchain video game for the masses, he tells Axios' Stephen Totilo. Why it matters: Wright is the biggest name in the controversial blockchain gaming sector, in which there's an abundance of investment — and player skepticism. What they're saying: "I'm much more interested in attracting a million free-to-play players than 10,000 rich whales, although we could use those rich whales," Wright tells Axios, using a term for people who spend an inordinate amount of money in a game. Details: Wright's project, VoxVerse, is a virtual world where players would be able to own land, create attractions, mine for resources and socialize. - He envisions attracting three groups of people: a small number of rich virtual landowners paying for plots with crypto; a middle group of creative players who'll be tapped by landowners to make stuff (and share proceeds), and a mass of free-to-play folks who'll hang out and play in the world.
The bottom line: Wright emphasizes that VoxVerse can't just be about blockchain — it needs to be fun to play. Read the rest. | | | | | | | | A message from Robin Powered | | Getting your employees back into the office | | |  | | | | A successful hybrid workplace requires more than just meeting room and desk scheduling. A new survey of 200 business leaders revealed what companies are getting wrong, how leaders can overcome hybrid work roadblocks and practical steps to improve office engagement. Read the insights. | | | | Big thanks to What's Next copy editor Amy Stern. Was this email forwarded to you? Get your daily dose of What's Next by signing up here for our free newsletter. |  | | Are you a fan of this email format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 300 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications. | | | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here.
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