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Noise pollution will never be addressed in Guyana

Aug 15, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

The letter in the local press ended with a plaintive “PLEASE, TAKE OUR PLEA SERIOUSLY” and it was signed by 42 Enmore residents. Of course, the issue is ‘noise.’ The complainers were expressing their disgust at DJs, bars, music carts, vehicles and wedding houses from which very loud noise emanates and which has reached epidemic proportions. As we all know, NOISE EPIDEMIC is not an Enmore thing. It is nationwide, and a part of the accepted culture of the day. In fact, government-sponsored events still continue to horribly affect residential communities adjacent to the Providence Stadium. They are bombarded incessantly many nights whenever shows and concerts are staged there. According to one letter writer, there are “over-amplified music, discordant notes and loud-mouthed DJs or announcers” who “… continue into the hours of the morning and most recently daybreak.” So, what’s my point?

First, Guyanese must understand that ‘noise-pollution’ is entrenched. The noisier a person or occasion is, the higher is the acclamation accorded. The PPP/C itself endorses this kind of attitude, as it keeps endorsing noise-making activities, and its noisy aura is ever present when on a campaign or rally.

I feel strongly that the intellectual state of Guyana is of such that the leaders really do not fathom how disruptive, destructive and damaging noise is to the human psyche. It is the antithesis to anything academic and profitable. Research in this field is quite abundant too. In fact, exposure to intensely loud sounds leads to permanent damage of the hair cells, which act as sound receivers in the ear. Also it is well-established that that noise pollution affects the behaviour of birds-their fitness, breeding and growth, often leading to chronic stress. Scientists say that constant noise may form an acoustic blanket muffling the audio cues birds rely on to detect predators, competitors and their species. I need not belabour the point anymore, but I have an anomaly to comment on.

During the height of COVID-19 pandemic, many had no choice but to be online for their classes and studies. Guess what? The Ministry of Education, in its fossilized myopia, never thought of the kind of neighbourhood the country is cursed with, namely bottom-house chutney and dancehall revelries, ice-cream vans, milk vendors, upholstery and cabinet-making workshops and a host of others noise-making hindrances. I personally made limitless calls to get some help for reprise, and I got the generic police answer, that is, ‘we will send the patrol.’

Let me now send a reminder and sound a warning to the Enmore people. They have to be cautious. In August last year, a religious leader met his demise, a brutal murder, when after failing to get help from the police, he confronted several men who were imbibing and using indecent language in front of his very own premises. He was brutally beaten to death. That individual was Rishi Barrat called “Haribol”, 60, a father of four and a priest and joiner by profession.

As we all know, this matter is over and done with. Incidents of noise-making have become quite a maze, as are the cases of crimes, traffic lawlessness and accidents. Enmore complainers have no choice. They need to find a way to ‘get by’ until they can get out (as many Guyanese have their eyes on North America and are awaiting maturity of sponsorship). Guyana is too depraved to embrace the higher and finer features that make for a civil and law-abiding society. The government is bereft of the requisite knowledge regarding the horror of noise pollution, and as such, it cannot fathom why something should be done, as it sees that with noise pollution, no harm is being done.

I repeat – Be careful, and abide until you get out.

 

Yours truly,

Prescott Mann

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