I did put a prominent smiley in my email. The very idea of a "Las Vegas
environmental reporter" makes me smile. If that isn't a non-sequitor, what
is?
If I found myself in Vegas, I would be searching for the quickest way out,
so what would I say to the readers of a Vegas journal? What happened to the
desert wildlife before man deleted it in favour of a highly carbon-emitting
artificial culture?
What I would try to do is to take the reader's hand metaphorically and show
them that there are remnants of a natural world still out there which is not
noise polluted and where wildlife has lived for millions of years until now.
Man made noise annoys us recordists, but it also disrupts animal
communication. One example is long distance LF sounds from whales which
travel for tens or even hundreds of miles but are now masked by ship noises.
Birds sing more loudly in town than in the country.
Last night on BBC TV "I Bought a Rainforest", a wildlife cameraman
discovered he had actually bought 100 acres of coca plantation, and met the
illegal planter. The trees he had fondly hoped to preserve had been felled
and the wildlife had gone. The family working the coca had no other income
and in any case the area was controlled by armed bandits.
In one sequence, a remnant mahogany tree loaded with wildlife, including
three times as many frog species as in the whole of the UK, was legally cut
down to be sold to the UK to make luxury furniture.
Destruction of habitat is a one way process, so perhaps the most important
"why" question about recording wildlife is to at least preserve the sounds
of the wild as they once were.
Too preachy? :-)
David Brinicombe
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