The world today is very noisy. Just open your window and see how long it takes before you hear a noise caused by humans. Whether you live in the city or out in a rural area, you’re more than likely going to hear a noise caused by humans.
Gordon Hempton is a Sound Tracker living in Port Townsend. He is a co-founder of Quiet Parks International, a nonprofit organization “committed to the preservation of quiet for the benefit of all life.”
"I could go on and on and talk about the value of quiet, but the real take home is you feel happy pretty quick,” Hempton said.
Hempton has been tracking sound for decades and decided he needed to find a place that offers pure nature sounds. A place with no human-caused noises what-so-ever.
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“The rest of the world is getting noisier and noisier,” Hempton said. “We have silent seekers now entering the ecotourism marketplace just to have a quiet place to experience the antidote to toxic noise.”
Hempton was able to build a relationship with the Cofan Tribe in the Amazon Rainforest. This is where the first-ever quiet park will be located.
But it’s just the beginning. He has plans to create several other quiet spaces here in the U.S. A few other quiet spaces to note are in Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Montana, and those are just in the U.S.
Hempton has plans to establish quiet parks all over the globe.
“We believe that nine out of 10 children alive today will never be able to experience nature without noise pollution unless they visit an international quiet park,” Hempton said. “The first was established today, we hope to establish more than 100 in the next several years and eventually all 265 that we have identified on all continents around the globe.”