One of the reasons I love going off the beaten track is to hear birds, animals, wind, water and even bugs.
When you can hear your heartbeat and be pulled to a direction listening for a clearer connection to something in the wild doing its thing. For us, being 'stuck' in the Northeast, finding quiet is getting harder. I am lucky that I live in a very quiet spot. This also has its down side as I find that when I go some places its just too noisy of the manmade kind. I can never understand hearing a generator in the wild or a loud radio. I wonder ( know it sounds judgmental ) why one goes out into the quiet and needing to bring noise.
I know I know... to each his own but when what I do interferes with other's ability to enjoy something (like talking during a music recital) it just seems basic. Anyway ... folks who have a lot of the wild open spaces are very lucky. It is something not to take for granted as it is apparent here in the east what we have lost by the crowding. At some point that wild open space where one could have a radio and not be heard (some take as a basic freedom) will with more people, not a freedom but an infringement on the "Group".
I used to live in Japan for a few years. It is incredibly, densely populated. Their culture has had to evolve whereby the group's 'freedom' is as important as the individual's. A communitarian outlook. One good example to visualize how crowded (this is from 25 years ago): Japan is comparable in size to California. Japan is 80% mountainous....so think... 20% of the land of California ..... now take half of that away for agriculture... visualizing 10% of the landmass is used for people..... here's the kicker......now put half the population of America on that land. They are a land of rules.... gotta have them to get along that tightly packed.
This is a poster of a kind one sees all over the place. It can be easily "translated" ... "be aware of others and monitor your noise". I loved Japan. I learned a lot about a lot. (man the food is incredible... and the hot tubs!)
I feel the same way about excess light pollution... lights on for no reason blocking out the night sky.
Anyway all this came to me over there morning coffee as I read this article and looked at the 'sound maps' about the noise in our National Parks.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/04/humans-create-a-racket-in-nations-parks/
(of course having been a teacher of 13-14 year olds for 30 years also had me seeking solitude whenever possible!)
When you can hear your heartbeat and be pulled to a direction listening for a clearer connection to something in the wild doing its thing. For us, being 'stuck' in the Northeast, finding quiet is getting harder. I am lucky that I live in a very quiet spot. This also has its down side as I find that when I go some places its just too noisy of the manmade kind. I can never understand hearing a generator in the wild or a loud radio. I wonder ( know it sounds judgmental ) why one goes out into the quiet and needing to bring noise.
I know I know... to each his own but when what I do interferes with other's ability to enjoy something (like talking during a music recital) it just seems basic. Anyway ... folks who have a lot of the wild open spaces are very lucky. It is something not to take for granted as it is apparent here in the east what we have lost by the crowding. At some point that wild open space where one could have a radio and not be heard (some take as a basic freedom) will with more people, not a freedom but an infringement on the "Group".
I used to live in Japan for a few years. It is incredibly, densely populated. Their culture has had to evolve whereby the group's 'freedom' is as important as the individual's. A communitarian outlook. One good example to visualize how crowded (this is from 25 years ago): Japan is comparable in size to California. Japan is 80% mountainous....so think... 20% of the land of California ..... now take half of that away for agriculture... visualizing 10% of the landmass is used for people..... here's the kicker......now put half the population of America on that land. They are a land of rules.... gotta have them to get along that tightly packed.
This is a poster of a kind one sees all over the place. It can be easily "translated" ... "be aware of others and monitor your noise". I loved Japan. I learned a lot about a lot. (man the food is incredible... and the hot tubs!)
I feel the same way about excess light pollution... lights on for no reason blocking out the night sky.
Anyway all this came to me over there morning coffee as I read this article and looked at the 'sound maps' about the noise in our National Parks.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/04/humans-create-a-racket-in-nations-parks/
(of course having been a teacher of 13-14 year olds for 30 years also had me seeking solitude whenever possible!)
