Even If You Don’t Want To
The rumble, the clatter, the clamor, the clicking, the screeching, the moaning, the groaning, the whistling, the roaring, the thumping, the sputtering, the splattering, hammering, pounding, swishing sound of all the constant motion and machinery of human activity is bad for the health of everything it touches.
Cloudy afternoon
There are few, if any, human habitable locations on earth that are not inundated with the noise of humanity.
In 1971, after several camping trips in the wilderness of the Sierras, Trinity Alps, and the deserts of 3 states, I wrote a song called, “You Can’t Escape The Jet Plane, (Rumbling In The Sky)”. (Somewhere there are copies of that song)
Sentry duty while other birds in the tree eat
I was troubled because there was no place in the West where I could go that sounded naturally unspoiled, (I had already given up on anyplace east of the rocky mountains as ever being free of the sound of human activity).
In shade without flash
For more than 50 years, I have read stories, reports, books, and articles regarding the cost of industrial noise to the well being of life on earth, (the only planet we will ever live on). When I first wrote the song, “The Sound Of The City”, in 1969 Oakland, California, I had no idea that the sounds of human endeavors would inevitably pollute the whole planet.
Same shot with flash fill
Numerous reports show reductions in cognitive abilities, persistent anxiety, lack of healthy sleep, and the inability to concentrate are direct results of constant exposure to man-made noise. The physical harm caused by stress (LIST) has been well documented. Chronic stress can produce everything from headaches to heart attacks. But noise is power, and we are proud to be the most powerful nation on the planet. Hear us roar.
Good place to film bees
Psychologically, we humans can be manipulated by exposure to types of sound. Instinctively we feel that louder noise means greater power. Riding astride a loud Harley Davidson motorcycle makes us feel a lot more powerful than driving a Prius. If the cars at drag races were not thunderously loud, attendance would fall off by 90%, (I got that from Bernie Krause’s book, The Great Animal Orchestra).
Josie’s porch flowers
I might add that there are unscrupulous industries, and political organizations, who take advantage of the befuddled masses, particularly when they are watching TV. The annoying visual noise of on screen images is intentionally combined with a modulated, highly compressed sound track on cable news stations in order to deliver effective, repetitive, manipulating messages, (propaganda), to stressed out, confused, capitivated, viewers.
Different angle, plus flash
I would write more material on this subject, but the relentless roar of the refrigerator has diminished my cognition, and rendered my communicative capabilities into unintelligible sludge for the rest of this evening.
Today’s Relatively Peaceful Video;
Sparks from Fjordlapse on https://vimeo.com">Vimeo
.
Softness And Tenderness
No comments:
Post a Comment