Seven sonic sounds of wonder: Sounds at risk of being lost due to the climate crisis
Some sounds are at risk of being lost due to the climate crisis. We spoke to Wildlife Recordist Chris Watson to find out more.
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00:00 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
00:01 [CROWD CHEERING]
00:03 [BELL RINGING]
00:06 [CROWD CHEERING]
00:08 [BELL RINGING]
00:09 Well, there's a recording of starlings
00:12 near the Bristol Channel.
00:14 And starlings have suffered a 70% decline.
00:17 There used to be a massive roost of starlings in Newcastle
00:21 20-odd years ago.
00:22 Like a million birds would come into the city.
00:25 And now they've virtually gone.
00:28 And they've mostly been lost to--
00:31 their habitats changed.
00:33 And there's been a huge decline in the birds.
00:34 In the UK, starlings no longer nest in large parts of Wales
00:38 and southern England.
00:39 In fact, there was an 87% decline in the birds
00:43 from 1967 to 2015.
00:45 This is just one example of how our climate is changing.
00:49 I mean, Iceland last year had a funeral service
00:52 for a glacier that just melted and disappeared and died,
00:55 effectively.
00:56 And it's too late.
00:57 We need to address climate change now.
01:00 When you hear the sounds of some of these places,
01:02 the tiger forest in Finland, or hippopotamus in the River Mara,
01:07 or the frogs in Gamboa, when you allow the natural world
01:14 to speak for itself, it's the most eloquent way of describing
01:18 what we're about to lose.
01:20 Humans are also affected by environmental noise
01:22 to the point of it creating physiological burdens.
01:26 The European Environment Agency estimates
01:28 that environmental noise in Europe
01:30 can cause 12,000 premature deaths and 48,000 new cases
01:35 of ischemic heart disease per year.
01:38 But by listening to these places,
01:40 it becomes very obvious that it's
01:43 part of our responsibility to look after these places.
01:46 Although we might simply go and listen and enjoy
01:49 the sounds for what they are, what I do hope
01:51 is that it raises awareness for these precious sounds
01:55 may well be disappearing.
01:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]