Rise of Quiet Communities
Written by: Angelique Redwood
Why Quiet Communities Are Fighting for Silence
If you haven’t heard, noise pollution may not be good for us. All those distracting sounds are known to cause issues with hearing and our minds. So, what happens when our present makes it impossible to avoid a symphony of loud sounds?
If a Tree Falls in the Forest and No One’s There to Hear It…
Two million years ago, when our Homo erectus ancestors sat in a quiet cave and struck two rocks together, they inadvertently made the very first fire, setting us on a course to the modern day. One of the many differences between then and now is that anyone striking two rocks together today can barely hear themselves over the cacophonies of noise pollution.
From orange-blazed fires to the first wheel, humans learned to invent planes, trains, and automobiles. These inventions are incredible for industry, yet millions of people worldwide can no longer escape the constant drone of sound humming in the backdrop of their lives. Whether in New York or Japan, every major city and mega-suburb contains a surround-sound stereo of honking cars and heavy construction, making it nearly impossible to get a second of silence.
For many, peace is purely a luxury. Still, our ancient brains can’t handle the bombardment of noise thrown our way each day. Way before the train tracks and skyscrapers were the noises of nature. Chirping birds and claps of thunder were the loudest soundwaves our ears encountered.
Generations later, here we are with the same ancient brains living in an entirely new world. Unfortunately, our minds and bodies have yet to catch up, leading to the adverse reactions that arise from the relatively new concept of noise pollution.
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Measuring Sound
When does that noise become too much noise? Measured in decibels (dBA), the National Institutes of Health gauges that sounds at or above 85 dBA heard for long periods pose a risk to our hearing.
Now, think about the regular noises you may hear within your week. The droning whiz of all those lawnmowers and motorcycles lands between 80 and 110 dBA. Sirens and ambulances race by blaring between 110 and 129 dBA. Anyone living near an airport is succumbed to the 140–160 dBA that airplane jets emit.
Citizens living in major cities might hear these loud ranges of sound hundreds of times a day. These sounds don’t just affect our hearing; the echoing commotion sinks much deeper into our psyches than we realize.
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More Noise, More Problems
Research published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology shows how noise negatively affects our central nervous systems. When we were more used to hearing rustling leaves than constant motors, the body’s natural reaction to loud noise was fight-or-flight. When the body is in that anxious state, the mind is too, exacerbating mental states of unrest.
Rates of depression and anxiety are higher than they’ve ever been as the Earth grows ever louder with each booming city and industrial invention. Maybe future human bodies will adapt to all this loud sound. Until then, our physical and psychological states suffer, causing never-ending anxiety as high dbAs become more of a norm for our society.
It’s no secret that our soldiers return home with tinnitus and PTSD after experiencing the bombastic blasts of war. Knowing the negative effects of the sounds of the battlefield should prompt all of us to fight the loud fight and ensure we all obtain the quiet we deserve.
So, how do we mitigate this issue? How do we save ourselves from this noisy wreckage? How do we save one of our most important senses and our very vital nervous system?
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How’d We Get So Loud?
Fear of noise pollution’s effects has led to decades of discussion. In the 1970s, our government even attempted to mitigate those negative effects. Headed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Office of Noise Abatement and Control (ONAC) was created under the Title IV Clean Air Act. This meant programs and initiatives were built to raise awareness of noise pollution and help the public soften loud sounds in their own lives.
Unfortunately, the ONAC was short-lived. By the early 1980s, they lost most of their funding. Soon after, clean air became a hot-button issue, and the noise pollution’s cause faded into the background. Forty years later, we’re still trying to ignore our surrounding loud noises while the EPA ignores pushing possible control measures.
This oversight has led the nonprofit consortium Quiet Communities to take the US government to court. Quiet Communities hopes to change ONAC’s current existence and demand that the government fund the once-lost noise control initiatives attempted in the 1970s. Best of all, they’re not the only ones fighting for a solution to the noise pollution affecting millions worldwide. People are finally waking up to the harm all those distracting noises cause.
Fighting the Loud Fight
People everywhere are fighting to combat the killer effects that noise pollution causes. Not only have legal punches been thrown, but humans everywhere are attempting to take control into their own hands. By promoting quiet lifestyles, activities, and communities, people are pushing for more quiet.
Silent walking, quiet parks, forest bathing—you name it. People are determined to combat noise pollution in any way they can, but it’s not always easy. Even though we know the positive power of nature, the rich and elite have the most access to silence.
Most people with money flock together, moving to mansions in the country side or even custom caves in Switzerland. When you have the funds, you can easily find ways to escape all that nonsensical noise. Even the rich who live in cities like New York place their families closer to the natural noises of Central Park.
This peace shouldn’t exist only for people with enough dollars in their pockets. All human beings deserve to grow and live stress-free. Even when we become accustomed to such noise, we still transform into pressure cookers of insomnia, anxiety, and never-ending frustration.
The Sounds of Silent Solutions
Finding solutions to noise pollution tends to take a backburner to all the other pressing issues on planet Earth. Spreading wildfires on the West Coast and melting glaciers up north are reminders of the ever-growing changes in climate, and that’s not counting all the smog or the slow loss of our natural ecosystems. Most days, things seem frightening, almost as if no solution is worth the time. Yet our ancestors probably felt the same way as they lived through their wars and plagues. Even then, people fought for what they felt mattered, even when their cause lived silently in the background.There are arguments that solving our noise pollution problems shouldn’t be up to the average citizen. Our government also has a responsibility to ensure humankind survives and thrives on Earth.
While I wait for our government to catch up to human’s most pressing plights, I purposefully make time for my peace while keeping my pulse on fellow community members fighting for the same right to silence.
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The Rise of Peace and Quiet
Hiking has been my answer to exiting the cacophonous world of sound. Re-entering the natural world clears my mind and reintroduces me to the same world my ancestors knew. My breath eases, my shoulders slack, and I’m more equipped to take on the overly loud noises of my hometown.
I’m also aware of how lucky I am to be surrounded by woods. I can disappear into the forest with my satisfied dog strapped to her leash. But not everyone has the same opportunity, something I’m reminded of when I return to bustling cities like Miami. Cities make it much harder to find that quiet time; it takes a bit more searching.
If you search hard enough, maybe in the quiet seconds of a slow sunrise or the whispers of a sleeping city, you just might be able to take a deep breath, imagine our ancient ancestors flicking their rocks together, and smile. The world has changed tremendously, but we’re still here, living to see another day and fighting for peace and serenity.
By remembering that we can solve things one step at a time, a light at the end of the tunnel appears. So, when all that noise pollution becomes too heavy to bear again, close your eyes and take a deep breath. It doesn’t matter where or how you find your peace; always recall that you and the rest of your community can still steal every possible quiet moment you can. 
TrooRa Magazine
Written by
Angelique Redwood
