Photo credit: Tom Swinnen
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition, and Honorary Chair, Quiet American Skies
The Bottom Rung Summer 2024 Newsletter is now online. This newsletter is published four times a year and is edited by John Stewart of the UK Noise Association. John has long been involved in combating noise, especially aircraft noise. I have worked with John for many years, and he is the lead co-author of our 2011 book, “Why Noise Matters.” Thus, his newsletters are most informative and I urge our readers to check them out.
This newsletter draws our attention to several areas of interest. One article focuses on the expansion of wind farms as a clean source of energy. In keeping with this effort, the United Kingdom government lifted bans on onshore wind farms. But the newsletter notes that this quick action may have neglected appropriate regulation or guidelines, including the assessment of noise impacts.
The newsletter also looks at the noise challenge of new large pylons to decarbonize the grid, and covers traffic and the use of quieter surfaces for the road. I will focus on one more article, and that is the call for a “London noise czar.” This call for a “noise czar” was made by a New York City Councilmember years ago, but nothing came of it. However, the city did name a “nightlife mayor” several years ago, so now might be the time to consider a “noise mayor.”
