Culture
A New Kind Of Pollution Is Threatening The Natural World
Airplanes, automobiles and people all emit this noxious pollutant.
Modern technology is putting the world’s forests at risk. The issue? Noise. The US National Park Service has been monitoring man-made sound levels in protected areas, and it’s found that noise has doubled in some places and increased by 10 times as much in others. Studies suggest that bad things can happen when you turn up the ambient volume in normally quiet natural environments: Animals can’t hear predators, mating calls can go unheard and many species undergo significantly more stress. It’s an issue whose impact is still not quite understood completely. Thankfully, The Atlantic has published a brilliant guide that explains the problem in full. Read it here.
Read more: This music made from global warming data will scare you
