FIELDNOTES: Noise pollution in an isolated sagebrush steppe at 700m., w/ Meadowlark Duo...

JUST A LITTLE field recording I made yesterday, Mayday-Tree-of-Life-Day, V.I.2015. I was out photo-making/mt. bike training, going up a little 400 m. pass just 1.5 km from my little Eagle Valley shoebox Office. I had just stopped as two regular-sized pickups approached in opposite directions. If you bike, you know first hand what I'm about to say; if you don't bike, you won't. NOISE POLLUTION. How is it experienced by the avian world? I'm afraid I can't agree with the great Bucky Fuller, here."Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting." That's true for the trucks emissions, but it's hard to see how that's possible with all the noise pollution of the world. Just meditate on this a bit. NOISE, here, is the entirely unintended side-effect of two ranchers going in opposite directions in a hurry. I guess becoming de-sensetized to the subtlety of natural, living sound is just part and parcel or a generally horribly de-humanized landscape. I also wanted to call attention to the fact that this is not just a feature of BIG CITY life. And the two counter-singing Meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta http://bit.ly/1I6qaZW)? Well, I for one can only marvel at their tenacity and strength of spirit. Sing as sing one must, regardless of the racket the rest of the, from their point of view, indifferent world makes. PHOTO: Sulphur Lupine in Sagebrush (Lupinus sulphureus), just above where the field recording was made . . . at: http://bit.ly/1QYYngB [LISTENING TIP: try downloading the little mp3 file & putting into a loop w/ iTunes or other player. The density as a background soundscape is about what it is like if you're biking the Oregon outback on asphalt. Once you're on gravel, it's very much more quiet. And once you cache your bike, which is what I do, and head into the roadless wilderness, one only has to contend with the fighter jets overhead.]