Tenth Anniversary!

One Square Inch of Silence was established on Earth Day 2005, at the Hoh Rainforest, Olympic National Park – the first natural area to be defended from sources of noise pollution. Since that day, more that 100 million people have been introduced to our mission to preserve places in nature free of noise pollution through media coverage by NPR, CBS, NBC, Channel One Russia, MSN News, BBC, the Oprah Winfrey Network and many others, thus attracting visitors to OSI from more than 20 countries.

OSI has had a profound effect on many people and has inspired work by others, even in parts of the world very distant, such as Laila Fan in Taiwan who has recorded natural sounds, written a book, and established the Soundscape Association of Taiwan. Senator Maria Cantwell supports and is enthusiastic about moving forward to establish Olympic National Park as the world’s first quiet park, protected by noise pollution. There have been interviews and documentaries. The interview of Gordon Hempton, founder of OSI by Krista Tippett of “On Being” was one of the show’s top pieces ranked by her listeners. Other people and organizations across the country have been inspired to initiate their own actions to preserve natural quiet in their own areas. The urgency for preservation of natural silence is gaining recognition and the momentum to take action is gaining strength.

Listen and watch:

Some people hear a recording of coyotes-and indeed, it is- a pair near Olympic National Park sing through the air on a late autumn night. Some people hear this as a recording of silence, made audible the coyotes because the echoes are so ever expanding. One thing is for certain – all of life is speaking, if not singing, and we have a right to listen to the Earth undisturbed by noise intrusion. Natural, original quiet is at risk of becoming extinct. Your generous contribution to One Square Inch of Silence will make a difference.