How ‘climate control’ can help birds survive SA’s changing climate

Birds, especially the urban variety, are feeling the effects of a warming planet. Higher temperatures and a lack of clean water correlate with lower bird diversity, but a new design solution is giving them relief from an unlikely source: air conditioners.

With summer and winter temperatures highs breaking records all over the world, people in cities are keeping things cool inside with ever more reliance on air-conditioning systems. At the same time, just outside the windows of offices and apartments, birds are vulnerable to physiological stress and have even suffered mass die-offs.

Now a simple new invention is turning air conditioning into a solution birds are thirsty for.

You’ve probably noticed the drips and drops that emerge from the outside pipes of air conditioners. These drops are, in fact, the condensation that results from the cooled air drawn from the interior. And the more intensively an air conditioner works, the more drops it produces: seven hours of operation can result in as much as 10 litres of water from one unit.

Machine_ and Leo Burnett Ukraine began a collaboration on how to turn these drops of water into a lifeline for urban birds. “If a city is hot enough that you need air conditioning, it’s hot enough for the city’s birds to need a fresh water sources,” says Pete Little, CEO of Publicis Groupe Africa.

The solution? A bird waterer that channels air-conditioning drips into a bird-friendly water source.

Partnering with ecologists and ornithologists, a waterer was designed that would not only look and feel natural to birds, it can also fit any air-conditioning system. Prototyped models, followed by full 3D-printable versions, were created. Water from air conditioners can now be channelled into the device, and birds have a clean, safe and sustainable water source.

“We want to see these on as many air conditioners as possible, in as many cities as possible, so we made the design open-source,” says Kosta Schneider, chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe Czech Republic and Ukraine.

The bird waterer design is open-source and downloadable from the Drops of Life website, and printable at any 3D print studio with an easy-to-install design.

Cities across the world – from Cape Town to Kyiv, Delhi to Los Angeles – are all embarking on new strategies to mitigate higher temperatures and water scarcity for all its residents. Drops of Life now ensures the feathered residents aren’t forgotten in these strategies, either.