Peace and Quiet

“Beeeep!” “Beep!”  “Beep.”  The city garbage trucks are backing up.

I live in an integrated apartment building on Chicago’s northeast side.

What’s happening with environmental integrity?

Why can’t the huge, rich, waste industries create options to cut down on this country’s noise pollution problem? 

  Do you ever find that when you hear, say, a car alarm or a leaf blower, that your stress elevates a little? 

  “Beep!”  “Beep!”

Okay, maybe the Waste Management industries don’t care because they don’t hear that horrible noise in their big fancy homes with their manicured lawns protecting them.  Why isn’t Waste Management responsible for delivering health warning messages?  It’s been studied, the research available.  Noise pollution has destructive toll on our psyche, our concentration, our moods and our overall health. Noise pollution effects are immediate as well as cumulative. That irritating noise outside causes stress, stress causes disease and disease kills us.

I think we absolutely must become aware of the importance of peace and quiet in order to preserve it.  There are options.  The same technology that got us here can heal us here.  And the sooner, the better.