Editor:
Yes, it really is time to take back our town. I am so sick and tired of special events in Banff.
It’s not just the traffic and parking problems either. It’s the noise.
We live on Buffalo Street. On Canada Day, we were subjected to the twin delights of being blasted with loud music from both the east and west sides of town. Starting at 5 p.m. we were most rudely subjected to an ongoing cacophony of very loud music from the Shaw Amphitheater at the Banff Centre.
And to make it a true double-double, from 7 to 11 p.m. we were loudly serenaded from Central Park by the Canada Day lineup of musicians. Are the people who go to these special events all hard of hearing? Is that why the music has to be so loud?
In an article that appeared in the Southern Medical Journal in 2007, the authors wrote – “In a way that is analogous to second hand smoke, second hand noise is an unwanted airborne pollutant produced by others; it is imposed on us without our consent, often against our wills, and at times, places, and volumes over which we have no control.” They go on to write – “People have the right to choose the nature of their acoustical environment; it should not be imposed by others.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Noise affects health too. It can cause hypertension, sleep disturbances, anxiety, headache, and stress. It also affects circadian rhythms and causes mood shifts. And let me tell you, my mood does not shift for the better when subjected to unwanted second hand noise.
We live in a national park, not a theme park. How can we be expected to tune into nature, learn about it, appreciate it, respect it and protect it when we can’t even hear it? It’s time to turn down the volume in Banff and to learn to appreciate the sounds of silence.
Lori Dowling,
Banff
