by Gordon Hempton and John Grossman
The Free Press (p. 297)
November 14, 2009
Many people are concerned about noise and hunger for quiet, each in his or her own self-quieting way. Basel Jurdy and Mark Reddington, by designing quiet indoor places. Bill Worf and Tina-Marie Ekker, by remiinding environmentalists that scenic value alone is not enough. Jay Salter, by writing quiet-inspired poetry. Karen Trevino, by leading the NPS Nature Sounds Program in spite of bureaucratic disconnects. Elliott Berger, by helping design products and educating to protect against hearing loss.
And nowaways, empowered by the Internet, plenty of grassroots organizations focus on noise pollution and quiet preservation, both in America and abroad. To name but a few: the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse; Noise Free America; the Noise Abatement Society; Right to Quiet, based in Vancouver; Noise Mapping England; No Boom Cars, a Louisville, Kentucky effort seeking enforcement of their local noise ordinance; Lower the Boom, another anti-boom car effort; the Quiet Use Coalition, which argues against gas-powered engines in national forests; and the Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition, proving that noise is a problem even in such a big and remote and sparsely-populated state.