READ THE TEXT BELOW, THEN ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION.
Imagine that every time someone on your street mowed the lawn, or every time an airplane passed overhead, the ambient was filled with a nauseating smell. Suppose this same odor seeped into your bedroom at 3 a.m. when a motorcycle went by, and again at 7 a.m. when a building contractor started his work.
Suppose, indeed, that this stink was around you for 24 hours a day, sometimes stronger, sometimes not so strong, but always there, making your life unpleasant, destroying your ability to experience pleasant aromas, and perhaps even making you ill.
Would our society tolerate activities that really did generate such an odor? Of course not. Yet we show an amazing tolerance for a form of pollution that is every bit as disturbing and harmful: noise.
As a society we have chosen to make a tradeoff. We’ve been willing to tolerate a certain amount of noise for the sake of having what we see as benefits: things like motorized travel, labor-saving machines, and amplified sound at community and private events. We have essentially granted ourselves the right to make noise. But along with rights, as is so often said, come responsibilities. Have we developed a sense of acoustic responsibility in our society?
Noise is garbage, and it is a particularly insidious form of garbage. It destroys community life, pursues us into our homes, keeps us from sleeping, and is a cause of many stress-related illnesses as well as hearing loss.
Our acoustic environment has been described as something that belongs to all of us. Everyone has the right to use it, but no one has the right to abuse it. Let’s start using it responsibly!
Adapted from http://www.acousticecology.org/writings/acousticresponsibility.html
Glossary: seeped = penetrou
contractor = empreiteiro
stink = fedor
tradeoff = troca
pursues us = persegue-nos
Suppose, indeed, that this stink was around you for 24 hours a day, sometimes stronger, sometimes not so strong, but always there, making your life unpleasant, destroying your ability to experience pleasant aromas, and perhaps even making you ill.
Would our society tolerate activities that really did generate such an odor? Of course not. Yet we show an amazing tolerance for a form of pollution that is every bit as disturbing and harmful: noise.
As a society we have chosen to make a tradeoff. We’ve been willing to tolerate a certain amount of noise for the sake of having what we see as benefits: things like motorized travel, labor-saving machines, and amplified sound at community and private events. We have essentially granted ourselves the right to make noise. But along with rights, as is so often said, come responsibilities. Have we developed a sense of acoustic responsibility in our society?
Noise is garbage, and it is a particularly insidious form of garbage. It destroys community life, pursues us into our homes, keeps us from sleeping, and is a cause of many stress-related illnesses as well as hearing loss.
Our acoustic environment has been described as something that belongs to all of us. Everyone has the right to use it, but no one has the right to abuse it. Let’s start using it responsibly!
Adapted from http://www.acousticecology.org/writings/acousticresponsibility.html
Glossary: seeped = penetrou
contractor = empreiteiro
stink = fedor
tradeoff = troca
pursues us = persegue-nos
As a society we have chosen to make a tradeoff. We’ve been willing to tolerate a certain amount of noise for the sake of having what we see as benefits: things like motorized travel, labor-saving machines, and amplified sound at community and private events. We have essentially granted ourselves the right to make noise. But along with rights, as is so often said, come responsibilities. Have we developed a sense of acoustic responsibility in our society?
Noise is garbage, and it is a particularly insidious form of garbage. It destroys community life, pursues us into our homes, keeps us from sleeping, and is a cause of many stress-related illnesses as well as hearing loss.
Our acoustic environment has been described as something that belongs to all of us. Everyone has the right to use it, but no one has the right to abuse it. Let’s start using it responsibly!
Adapted from http://www.acousticecology.org/writings/acousticresponsibility.html
Glossary: seeped = penetrou
contractor = empreiteiro
stink = fedor
tradeoff = troca
pursues us = persegue-nos
Noise is garbage, and it is a particularly insidious form of garbage. It destroys community life, pursues us into our homes, keeps us from sleeping, and is a cause of many stress-related illnesses as well as hearing loss.
Our acoustic environment has been described as something that belongs to all of us. Everyone has the right to use it, but no one has the right to abuse it. Let’s start using it responsibly!
Adapted from http://www.acousticecology.org/writings/acousticresponsibility.html
Glossary: seeped = penetrou
contractor = empreiteiro
stink = fedor
tradeoff = troca
pursues us = persegue-nos
Glossary: seeped = penetrou
contractor = empreiteiro
stink = fedor
tradeoff = troca
pursues us = persegue-nos
The right to make noise
