Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
Exodus 20:8-11 NRSVue
What's that sound you hear in the distance? Oh, it's David banging the same ol' drum (quietly) about noise pollution in our rackety culture.
I heard an interview with a representative from a grass roots organization called No More Noise Toronto about possible changes to Toronto noise bylaws. She was an enthusiastic person who readily conceded that cities will be noisy. She admitted that she enjoys a good party herself. At the same time, urban centres such as TO are getting noiser in everything from construction to dance venues to motor vehicles tricked out to be obnoxious.
She also noted that even when laws are created to limit and regulate noise they are difficult to enforce yet it is worth the effort and it can be done. She mentioned that New York City now has noise cameras which capture images of vehicles which exceed limits. I found this description from December of last year:
If a vehicle's sound is over 85 decibels, which is about as loud as a lawn mower, cameras to be installed in the city by fall of 2025 will capture the offending vehicle’s license plate and issue a fine. Those fines will begin at $800 and can reach up to $2,500.
Who knew!? She also wondered if we could choose to have a day every week where the incessant clatter of everyday life was abated, a day off from noise. My aging ears perked up at this. Doesn't that sound a lot like the Judeo/Christian practice of Sabbath? The biblical Sabbath-keeping commandment, the Moses bylaw, is the lengthiest and most specific. A couple of generations ago in the staid city of Toronto the Good this is what happened, albeit with the not-so-good imposition of the Christian day off on other religious cultures.
When we studied Sabbath last year we discovered that there are urban centres that still shut down retail commerce and a lot of other activity on one day a week, for the benefit of the community, and not necessarily from religious convictions.During the trauma of the COVID pandemic one of the few upsides was the quieter world resulting from the initial lockdown. Even the skies above were quieter. Researchers have been telling us for years that excessive noise is bad for our physical and mental health:
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/the-dose-noise-health-1.6889724
Creating a small-s sabbath from noise sounds wonderful. One of my obsessive neighbours is already using his leaf blower during these mild days. Maybe we need "hear ourselves think" bylaws for the good of our souls.
...and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
I Kings 19:12-13 NRSVue
2 comments:
I'm all over this. I have less tolerance for unnecessary noise than ever. That's one of the things we loved about Japan - even in a city like Kyoto, we felt such a sense of calm and relative quietness.
The only noise I like to hear is my singing in the car to and from work....and even then it's not a given.
I thought this one might appeal to you, Roger, based on past comments. As you point out, other places, including larger urban centres in Japan, have figured this out. While carpooling is an environmentally sound practice, your solo driving may address a sound pollution issue.
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