Silence Isn't Golden, It's Green

Brian recently told us about the work of acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton to awaken us to the fact that there are shockingly few places in the United States where you can escape the din of mechanical devices, where you can be in what he calls 'silent' places--though perhaps naturally quiet is a better description.

Hempton is encouraging every to slow down, quiet down, and think about conservation. Something which I hold dear to my heart and I encourage everyone to do.

But if you live in a city--where you're unlikely to find five seconds of natural quiet, let alone the five minutes which is the current US average for the longest period without mechanical puntuation--I think you can actually experience that same thing that is being encouraged here.

Though experiencing the natural quiet of wilderness, or even semi-wilderness, may be the ideal, you can still reap some mentally green benefits from silence.