https://reasonstobecheerful.world/noise-pollution-quieter-cities/
"When Krystal Martin started surveying her neighbors in the southwest
Mississippi town of Gloster about the impact of a local wood pellet
manufacturing facility, she was focused on air quality. The facility has been
fined multiple times for exceeding emissions limits, and Martin was worried
about her neighbors’ health. From respiratory issues to eye and skin
irritation, just about everyone in the town of almost 900 people felt some
impact.
But air quality wasn’t the only concern. “You hear some people talk about the
dust,” Martin says. “Some people said they were impacted by a lot of sound.”
Noise is just a part of life there, she says. Loud 18-wheeler trucks drive
along the country roads every couple minutes. Machinery and loudspeakers echo
out from the plant across the two-mile-wide town. But it wasn’t until Martin’s
organization, the Greater Greener Gloster Project, partnered with Brown
University epidemiological researcher Erica Walker that Martin began to
understand the constant cacophony not just as an annoyance, but as another
factor contributing to residents’ health.
“We knew it was a problem. People talked about it being a problem,” says
Martin. “But we didn’t know it was noise pollution.”
Walker leads the Community Noise Lab, a research initiative that explores the
intersections between noise and health. The connection between loud sounds and
health extends far beyond hearing loss. Research is finding noise exposure has
implications for cardiovascular and cognitive health. Yet, unlike other
environmental stressors, noise has not been a major factor in community
planning.
Research efforts like Walker’s are deepening our understanding of how noise
permeates lives, arming communities with information to better plan for their
health and their future.
“I want to empower citizens to be able to negotiate what comes into their
communities, and negotiate thinking about noise as one of those things,” Walker
says."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
