How to minimize your 'noise footprint' | Paige Towers

Noise pollution is an environmental and public health crisis. Here are some simple steps to fight backThe modern world is too loud. Noise pollution wreaks havoc on the behavioral patterns and stress levels of wildlife. Ecosystems shift in the wake of chronic noise: seed dispersers, pollinators and their predators avoid the clamor, thus changing the landscape of plants and trees. And, as the New Yorker reported earlier this month, all this human-made noise is responsible for a public health crisis for humans, too - causing hearing damage, high blood pressure, heart disease, low birth weight, and disrupted sleep on a mass scale. Related: 'The absolute scourge of our time': readers respond to noise in cities Continue reading...