Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton is in love with nature's music -- sounds and silences he says that have either changed or vanished in the three decades he has been recording them. Bird songs, dolphin clicks, and insect chirps are all sounds of communication. If those sounds are drowned out by noise pollution, creatures can't hear each other. The results can be devastating. If danger warnings, mating calls, and territory claims are altered or go unheard, animal populations can plummet. And yet the number of quiet places on earth is dwindling. In this fascinating interview, Hempton tells us about the importance of silence and his mission to get people to fall in love with nature so they will wish to protect it.
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