Photo credit: Bri Schneiter
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
April 22 is Earth Day. I didn’t know there was an actual Earth Day organization, or that there was a theme for each Earth Day. This year’s theme is: “Our Power, Our Planet,” calling for everyone to unite around renewable energy to triple clean electricity by 2030.
While not directly related to renewable energy, electric power for vehicles, construction equipment, tarmac and utility vehicles at airports and for land care equipment is almost always quieter than equipment powered by internal combustion engines. Also, there are no gaseous or particulate emissions polluting the air during use.
My theme for this year’s Earth Day, for future Earth Days and for every day is working to make the earth a quieter place. As I have written in scientific publications, noise is unwanted and/or harmful sound. The safe noise levels to prevent noise-induced hearing loss in humans are lower than most people think they are. Noise has both auditory and non-auditory health effects on humans. It also affects animals, causing stress and interfering with finding food, avoiding predators and mating behaviors. Due to changes in feeding patterns of birds and small mammals, noise also affects plants.
I’m going to contact the Earth Day organization to ask that it do something about noise. Why? Because a quieter world will be a better and healthier world for all.
