Walking down many streets, I have often been struck by the amount of noise we human beings make. The screams, the horns, the alarms, the drilling, and the speakers turned up loud, bass thumping vibrations through everything . . .
All the noises we make come together, forming some desperate cacophonous scream into the void, just to prove that we are really here.
And too much of it is doing real harm to the environment.
Wild animals use sound as a means of navigation, to find food, attract mates, and avoid predation. When these animals must compete with overwhelming human noise, these pursuits are hindered. As a result, their lives are put at risk, and even shortened.
Trading the streets of a town for the lanes of a countryside village is to trade one sort of pollution for another. In my experience, rural paths are usually quieter than the more urban counterparts, but it is this very quietude that makes them attractive to those looking for a spot to dump waste.
Too many times, on otherwise pleasant rambles, I have stumbled across a pile of illegally disposed of waste. Piles of plastic, batteries, metals, and machinery. Chemicals leaching slowly into soil.
And we are, most of us, by now, well acquainted with the imagery of wildlife hindered or even harmed by such lazily discarded rubbish.
But it doesn't have to come in piles for it to be a problem. Streets decorated with dropped bottles, plastic packaging, takeaway boxes, and forgotten pet poop . . . All the individuals that just cannot be bothered . . .
It adds up to a big problem.
Inefficient waste disposal, whether it is the fault of the individual or local authorities, also creates problems for local wildlife, and leads directly to harmful interactions between people and wild animals. Sometimes harmful to people, sometimes harmful to the wildlife.
When packages that contain food are left on our streets, or bins are overflowing, that is going to attract wild animals. These animals are trying to survive, and an easy meal is going to draw them into our worlds.
However, rather than striving to do better, rather than disposing of waste more efficiently and maintaining a better standard of hygiene and cleanliness, we label those animals pests and vermin. We make the decision that those animals which have had the audacity to exploit our laziness must be persecuted.
The rat has its place in the ecological landscape. It is a source of food for many other animals and plays a part in maintaining the health of forests and jungles. Human beings have created a world where this rodent thrives and has been able to spread disease however, which has, in turn, led to a problematic relationship with this animal.
We have to take some responsibility for the ways in which we have bluntly and blindly forced our way into the natural world, intent on exploitation and plunder, only to cause great deals of harm, to ourselves as well as anything else.
We took the grey squirrel from its native America, and released them into British parks just because it amused us. We have been absurd in our interactions with the natural world at times!
When I hear a robin singing from a tree at eleven o'clock at night, its instinct to rain melancholy melody from the treetops ignited by the sickly yellow streetlights, it is saddening. And we are doing that, we are messing with some of the basic elements of these animals' lives. Elements which add up to more profound effects.
Human beings are a product of natural processes, not the other way around, but we treat nature and wildlife as though they ought to respect our innate greatness. We declare certain spaces suitable for human habitation and pursuits, and others for the more natural and wild. We resent nature and wildlife when they try to share our spaces with us, or if they attempt to exploit any of our creations.
Yes, we label those pesky aspects of the natural world "pests", "weeds", "vermin". Which is a handy collection of words we created to justify our killing them off, and without doing much of anything to change our own ways in the interests of maintaining a healthy environment.
There are signs that the mindset is changing. Natural history coming to the fore in education in schools, the greater options for environmentally conscious consumers on supermarket shelves, and companies pledging to do more about plastic pollution and emissions. The way forward doesn't look entirely bleak.
What can we do as individuals?
We can begin by being mindful of our choices, by educating ourselves about the choices we make. Personally, I find it is a lot harder to continue making harmful choices once I know those choices are harmful. And so, we put our education to use, utilising the knowledge we have gained for the better.
Charitable and nonprofit organisations such as the RSPB or the Woodland Trust make it part of their mission to gather data which will benefit the betterment of nature and wildlife, so these reputable organisations can be considered worthy resources for information on the health and wellbeing of the natural landscape.
As well as these, a visit to a local bookshop or library is worth a visit. Browsing through the natural history section ought to throw up at least a few great titles.
And join social media groups about nature and wildlife too – there can be some great conversations in there. And keep an eye out for groups local to you!
Sign petitions, put up posters, talk to your local MP, talk with businesses, join groups . . . There is much that we can do to effect change.
Is there still a long way to go? And will we get where we need to be in time?
It's hard to say.
It might all depend on where we focus our great powers of innovation and creation.
I don't think anyone can deny that human beings are a great species, and that we are capable of marvellous things. But, in the future, we might have to pursue, as well as those inventions devoted to the progress of industry and humanity, what is good for the world as a whole.
I think that that is a far nobler ambition anyway.
Thank you for reading.
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