Here are some of my favorite quotations from my current read, One Square Inch of Silence: One Man's Search For Natural Silence in a Noisy World by Gordon Hempton.
(Yay!...finally realized how to italicize book titles with this phone app. Oh I am such a nerd.)
(Yay!...finally realized how to italicize book titles with this phone app. Oh I am such a nerd.)
"The day will come when man will have to fight noise as inexorably as cholera and the plague.' So said the Nobel Prize- winning bacteriologist Robert Koch in 1905" (1)
"Fighting noise is not the same as preserving silence...they do nothing to help us reconnect and listen to the land. And the land is speaking" (1)
"We need to fall back in love with the land. Silence is our meeting place." (1)
"A single law would signal a huge and immediate improvement. That law would prohibit all aircraft from flying over the most pristine national parks." (2)
"Silence nurtures our nature...left with a more receptive mind and more attuned ear, we become better listeners not only to nature but to each other." (2)
"It is the falling whisper of snow that will later melt with an astonishing reggae rhythm so crisp that you will want to dance to it." (3)
"I felt a new yearning, one I understood better after reading John Muir describe his life-changing epiphany as 'soul hunger.'" (8)
"The words peace and quiet are all but synonymous, and are often spoken in the same breath. A quiet place is the think tank of the soul, the spawning ground of truth and beauty." (12)
"Fighting noise is not the same as preserving silence...they do nothing to help us reconnect and listen to the land. And the land is speaking" (1)
"We need to fall back in love with the land. Silence is our meeting place." (1)
"A single law would signal a huge and immediate improvement. That law would prohibit all aircraft from flying over the most pristine national parks." (2)
"Silence nurtures our nature...left with a more receptive mind and more attuned ear, we become better listeners not only to nature but to each other." (2)
"It is the falling whisper of snow that will later melt with an astonishing reggae rhythm so crisp that you will want to dance to it." (3)
"I felt a new yearning, one I understood better after reading John Muir describe his life-changing epiphany as 'soul hunger.'" (8)
"The words peace and quiet are all but synonymous, and are often spoken in the same breath. A quiet place is the think tank of the soul, the spawning ground of truth and beauty." (12)
"The ocean is a drum. It beats the music of the global weather systems." (14)
"Soon after inventing the Worm (really cool sleeping bag)...I tried to patent my design. I didn't mind when I learned I wasn't the first to dream up a double drawstring tubular design. What irks me to this day is that the patent is for a bowling pin cover." (25)
"Soon after inventing the Worm (really cool sleeping bag)...I tried to patent my design. I didn't mind when I learned I wasn't the first to dream up a double drawstring tubular design. What irks me to this day is that the patent is for a bowling pin cover." (25)
"Before selling it to me in Seattle some 15 years ago, the sculptor imparted three rules of the road that go with this iconic van. First, he told me, you have to be living life right to drive an old VW. You can't be in a hurry, because 50 mph is about tops. Second, you can't even be sure that you'll get there, so you might as well start to enjoy the journey from mile one. And third, you have to have lots of friends just to find parts to make repairs." (46)
$169.2 million was spent designing and creating a "quiet" library in Seattle by Yantis Acoustical Design. Why not use that money to preserve natural quiet spaces outside? (65)
"On a trip, you've got worry as a companion, for you're always concerned over what happens next and sticking to an itinerary. But on a journey you never have to worry. Something always happens next." ( 73)
"On a trip, you've got worry as a companion, for you're always concerned over what happens next and sticking to an itinerary. But on a journey you never have to worry. Something always happens next." ( 73)
"Save the Earth has become a battle cry of some environmentalists, but the Earth does not need to be saved. It has been doing fine, life evolving, for billions of years. It is we humans that need to be saved-from ourselves (by ourselves) and our myth of Super Abundance." (123)
"America today stands poised on a pinnacle of wealth and power, yet we live in a land of vanishing beauty, of increasing ugliness, or shrinking open space, and of an over-all environment that is diminished daily by pollution and noise and blight." (Stewart Udall, The Quiet Crisis, Avon Books, 1963)
"America today stands poised on a pinnacle of wealth and power, yet we live in a land of vanishing beauty, of increasing ugliness, or shrinking open space, and of an over-all environment that is diminished daily by pollution and noise and blight." (Stewart Udall, The Quiet Crisis, Avon Books, 1963)
"Beauty in all its sensuous forms nourishes the soul and sweeps away despair" (142)
"Can society ever be truly environmentally conscious when our walls and windows are so thick and excluding?" (157)
"Can society ever be truly environmentally conscious when our walls and windows are so thick and excluding?" (157)
Note: The loss of natural quiet is changing how animals, especially birds, are communicating with one another. In Urban areas, birds must change their pitch to be heard over human noise pollution. In captivity, the sound of bird communication (song) changes. Noise production influences how birds and other species can communicate to defend territory and themselves and how they attract mates.
Note: Loud noise in the workplace, even noise within government standards, can cause later hearing loss. (223)
Note: The way in which inner hairs and outer hairs of the cochlea work is a fascinating thing! (231)
In the end, Hempton added a great guide for protecting quiet in the wilderness, neighborhood, home, office, and how to save your hearing. I love many of his tips, but I mostly love how passionate someone can be about something and how well they lead by example.
Hempton also included a CD of soundscapes and beautiful photos of his journey. Bonus! I highly recommend this book!
Unfortunately, we learn that Hempton must remove his "one square inch" jar he placed in the park because of harm to nature and permit regulations. However, flights can still fly over parks, disrupting all sorts of species. Lesson learned, money talks. All we can do is protect quiet and the environment in the ways that show we care more about our health, happiness, and future of the home to all species, the planet, than we do about money.
Note: The way in which inner hairs and outer hairs of the cochlea work is a fascinating thing! (231)
In the end, Hempton added a great guide for protecting quiet in the wilderness, neighborhood, home, office, and how to save your hearing. I love many of his tips, but I mostly love how passionate someone can be about something and how well they lead by example.
Hempton also included a CD of soundscapes and beautiful photos of his journey. Bonus! I highly recommend this book!
Unfortunately, we learn that Hempton must remove his "one square inch" jar he placed in the park because of harm to nature and permit regulations. However, flights can still fly over parks, disrupting all sorts of species. Lesson learned, money talks. All we can do is protect quiet and the environment in the ways that show we care more about our health, happiness, and future of the home to all species, the planet, than we do about money.