Noise Pollution and the Eco-Politics of Sound: Toxicity, Nature and Culture in the Contemporary Soundscape

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
Tom Kohut
Keyword(s):  
Noise Pollution ◽  
Ecological Sustainability ◽  
Field Recordings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Ecological Thought ◽  
Industrial Societies ◽  
Political Question

Sound is a political question of which the antagonisms of noise pollution are a concrete embodiment. The discourses of noise pollution tend to postulate noise as a toxin that is produced by our industrial societies and is difficult either to contain or even define precisely. Composer R. Murray Schafer contrasts this toxin with a sustaining nature, but ecological thought of the past decade suggests that nature is, in fact, unnatural. The field recordings of Chris Watson and Francisco López suggest that this natural perversity can indicate a new mode of sonic ecological sustainability.

scholarly journals "Well, listen ... " : acoustic community on Toronto Island.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Scott
Keyword(s):  
Field Research ◽  
Noise Pollution ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Field Recordings ◽  
The Core ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Acoustic Community ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Deep Listening

"Well, listen. .. "is a sound composition about the acoustic community of Toronto Island and Toronto Harbour. The project explores how people create and experience acoustic community, how perceptions of the soundscape are related to attitudes about nature and culture, and how power relationships are articulated through sound. The project is based in environmental cultural studies and in sound ecology, notably the work of Williams (1973), Schafer (1977), Westerkamp (2002) and Truax (1984), and concludes seven months of soundwalks, interviews, composition, editing and field research. Participants discussed the soundscape of Toronto Island, noise pollution in Toronto Harbour and the relationship between sound, community and ecology. These interviews were edited and re-assembled in a manner inspired by the contrapuntal voice compositions of Glenn Gould. Field recordings reflect the complex mix of natural, social, and industrial sounds that make up the soundscape of the harbour, and document the acts of sound walking and deep listening that are the core methods of soundscape research. The composition creates an imaginary aural space that integrates the voices and reflections of the Island's acoustic community with the contested soundscape of their island home. The project paper outlines the theory and methods that informed the sound composition, and further explores the political economy of noise pollution, especially in relation to the Docks nightclub dispute and to current research in sound ecology.

scholarly journals "Well, listen ... " : acoustic community on Toronto Island.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Scott
Keyword(s):  
Field Research ◽  
Noise Pollution ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Field Recordings ◽  
The Core ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Acoustic Community ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Deep Listening

"Well, listen. .. "is a sound composition about the acoustic community of Toronto Island and Toronto Harbour. The project explores how people create and experience acoustic community, how perceptions of the soundscape are related to attitudes about nature and culture, and how power relationships are articulated through sound. The project is based in environmental cultural studies and in sound ecology, notably the work of Williams (1973), Schafer (1977), Westerkamp (2002) and Truax (1984), and concludes seven months of soundwalks, interviews, composition, editing and field research. Participants discussed the soundscape of Toronto Island, noise pollution in Toronto Harbour and the relationship between sound, community and ecology. These interviews were edited and re-assembled in a manner inspired by the contrapuntal voice compositions of Glenn Gould. Field recordings reflect the complex mix of natural, social, and industrial sounds that make up the soundscape of the harbour, and document the acts of sound walking and deep listening that are the core methods of soundscape research. The composition creates an imaginary aural space that integrates the voices and reflections of the Island's acoustic community with the contested soundscape of their island home. The project paper outlines the theory and methods that informed the sound composition, and further explores the political economy of noise pollution, especially in relation to the Docks nightclub dispute and to current research in sound ecology.

Impact of Major Highways on the Wildlife Population in Kingston and Frontenac County

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paige Robinson ◽  
Gavin Mclaughlin ◽  
Michael O'Meara ◽  
Hilary Ouellette
Keyword(s):  
Noise Pollution ◽  
Ecological Environment ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
The Past ◽  
Local Organizations ◽  
Local Species ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
Wildlife Populations

Over the past five years, there has been an abundance of interest concerning the ecological effects of major Ontario highways on the habitats and ecosystems of many wildlife populations. The primary concern with multilane, high-traffic freeways is that they typically divide existing habitats into relatively isolated zones. Consequently, this separates individuals within a population from other members of the same population, and also excludes access to many natural resources. The majority of the resultant issues for wildlife fall under three main categories; the collision based mortalities of organisms and the consequences on local residents, the halting of gene flow amongst the wildlife populations, and the physical intrusion and/or noise pollution adversely affecting the quality of habitat for local species. Based on these concerning issues, it is crucial for a sustainable solution to be developed and implemented in appropriate areas within Kingston and the surrounding Frontenac County. Our approach involves an extensive literature review, which will assist us in observing similar problems around the globe, as well as various solutions that have been executed to fix these said problems. Furthermore, we will conduct a thorough investigation of local organizations’ existing studies to obtain relevant data and statistics which will assist us in determining the effects high-traffic freeways have on the surrounding ecological environment. It is through this research that we hope to present valid findings on the multilane highways impact to local ecosystems and landscapes, as well as produce possible planning options for intervention and suggest key areas for further examination.

Rock carving on Ayodhya Hill: an avenue for geoheritage, geoconservation and environmental sensitization

Ensemble ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-131
Author(s):  
Sanjukta Banik ◽  
◽  
Malay Mukhopadhyay ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Empirical Observation ◽  
Commercial Use ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Future Potential ◽  
Purulia District ◽  
The Hill

The present paper aims to throw light on the environmental sensitivity illustrated through art on a hill signifying interface of nature and culture .Ayodhya Hill in Purulia district, displays an aspect of aesthetic attachment of humans with nature in the form of in-situ rock cut sculpture ‘Pakhi Pahar’which has transformed the bare hill into a piece of art. For the past three decades the hill has been sculpted by a group of local artists, creating around 65 birds.Even the boulders lying on the foot of the hill are sculpted, to save these fragile components of nature from stone quarrying and crushing machines which are demolishing and fragmenting the rocks and hills of the chotanagpur terrain to gather stone chips for commercial use. It may also be argued by a few ,that the natural environment of Matha range of Ayodhya Hill is infringed upon for the sake of art. The present researcher seeks to explain through empirical observation, narrative analysis and perception study of local people whether Pakhi Pahar is an “Aesthetic Regard” or “Aesthetic Affront” for nature . This paper also tries to bring in to focus the future potential of this cultural landscape in developing as a tourism site and giving employment to the local youth.

Approaches to Urban Noise Management in India

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neelima S. Naik
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Noise Pollution ◽  
Noise Levels ◽  
Urban Noise ◽  
Master Plans ◽  
The Past ◽  
Metropolitan Cities

Noise pollution in urban areas is recognized as a major environmental concern in India. The lack of infrastructure and fast paced life in major metropolitan cities of India has made the urban environment extremely crowded, busy as well as noisy and as a result the millions of people living in the major metropolitan areas are suffering from the impacts of noise pollution. Noise levels are escalating at such a rate that it has become a major threat to the quality of human lives. Direct links between noise and health have been established by research conducted over the past few decades. There are several causes for urban degradation such as population migration, environmental considerations not adequately being incorporated into master plans, uncoordinated and haphazard development, weak implementation of plans and laws and inadequate institutional competences and resource crunch. This paper discusses the causal factors, impacts and the different approaches adopted by the Central Government as well as some major State Pollution Control Boards to curb the urban noise problem and the need for looking into non-conventional solutions such as Ecocity programme to bring in visible environmental improvement.

The Effect of Economic Priorities on the Measurement of Value Change: New Experimental Evidence

1999 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 637-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold D. Clarke ◽  
Allan Kornberg ◽  
Chris McIntyre ◽  
Petra Bauer-Kaase ◽  
Max Kaase
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Value Change ◽  
Economic Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
Measurement Artifact ◽  
Industrial Societies

The Euro-Barometer values battery has provided much of the empirical evidence for the thesis that a shift from materialist to postmaterialist values has occurred in advanced industrial societies over the past two decades. It has been argued, however, that this widely used instrument is seriously flawed because of its sensitivity to current economic conditions. We present data from experiments in Canada and Germany that tested the performance of the values battery in an era of joblessness. Analyses reveal that (1) substituting an unemployment statement for the standard inflation statement in the battery has major consequences for the classification of respondents as materialist or postmaterialist and (2) answers to the battery are conditioned by the interaction between its content and respondents' economic issue concerns. These findings support the argument that much of the shift from materialist to postmaterialist values recorded by the Euro-Barometer since the early 1980s is a measurement artifact.

Между природой и культурой: экологические мотивы в поэзии Баира Дугарова

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-293
Author(s):  
Galina P. Dondukova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural World ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Language Poetry ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Ecological Problems ◽  
Nomadic Life

The article analyses the motif of contrasting the natural world and the technical civilization in the works of the Buryat poet Bair Dugarov as one of the aspects forming the ecological problems of the present. Dichotomy between nature and culture reflected in the opposition of a countryside and a city that is characteristic of Russian-language poetry of Buryatia, in Dugarov’s works gains a deep tone and expresses inner thoughts of the persona about the past and present, about forgotten nomadic life and modern globalization. Keywords: Buryat literature, environmental motifs, nature and culture

The Confluence Between Materiality and Immateriality in Site-Specific Sound and Visual Performances

2020 ◽  
pp. 64-96
Author(s):  
Frederico Dinis
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Electronic Music ◽  
Aesthetic Experience ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Visual Performance ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Visual Narratives ◽  
Field Recordings ◽  
The Past

Aiming to explore the diverse nature of sound and image, thereby establishing a bridge with the symbiotic creation of sensations and emotions, this chapter intends to present the development and the construction of a proposal for the confluence between materiality and immateriality in site-specific sound and visual performances. Using as a focal point sound and visual narratives, the author tries to look beyond space and time and create a representative atmosphere of sense of place, attempting to understand the past and sketching new configurations for the (re)presentation of identity, guiding the audience through a journey of perceptual experiences, using field recordings, ambient electronic music, and videos. This chapter also presents the development of an experimental approach, based on a real-time sound and visual performance, and some critical forms of expression and communication that relate or incorporate sound and image, articulating concerns about their aesthetic experience and communicative functionality.

scholarly journals Looking beyond the idyllic representations of the rural: The Konkan Railway controversy and middle-class environmentalism in India

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 261
Author(s):  
Sreeja Jaiswal
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Environmental Values ◽  
Historical Understanding ◽  
Environmental Preservation ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Environmental Controversy ◽  
Environmental Discourses

Post-independence India has had its share of controversies around mega-infrastructure projects that have pitted environmental preservation against development concerns. This article studies the environmental controversy around one such megaproject, the Konkan Railway, employing a framework that integrates the environmental values, beliefs and behaviour of individuals and groups with a historical understanding of political economy and ecology (science). Essentialist and over-simplified environmental discourses, without scientific credibility and not based on historical facts, are often influential in policy making, especially when channelled by the middle classes.  Better understanding our present concerns and guiding decisions and policies to deal with the problems we currently face, requires unmasking the romanticization of the countryside. We must replace the idyllic version of the past with a nuanced historical understanding of the interaction between nature and culture. This article also locates the controversy over the Konkan Railway within the frames used to study Indian environmentalism. The aim is to improve our understanding of the regional, ideological and cultural pluralities in environmental values, beliefs and behaviour of the middle class in India.

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