Noise Pollution and Vibration in the Bellingen Shire

On the 15th May the Royal Australian Air Force will fly jets day and night until 10.30 pm over the Bellingen Shire. (source)

The morning chorus of rural Bellingen usually consists of chainsaws. During the day the cacophony is enriched by mowers, slashers, lawn trimmers, sweepers, mulchers, chippers, shredders, bulldozers and other fossil fuel powered equipment. Cars speed on unpaved roads, cavalcades of mining and logging trucks thunder through the shire and the scenic little village. Hovering (pesticide spray) helicopters and sightseeing planes ensure that the sky is also abuzz with noise pollution. On weekends gangs of trail bikes rev up. At night the odd out of control ad hoc party distributes its industrial sound waves over the valley. The barking and yapping packs of dogs will be ignored here, as the focus is on machines powered with fossil fuel.

As a special annual event, the Bellingen shire (and Nambucca, Bellingen, Coffs Harbour and Clarence Valley council areas) puts itself on the map by hosting car races. " 200 kilometres of NSW forest roads will be used for a three-day car race." (source)  The fossil fuel burning spectacle is generating a lot of noise and dust. During that time, "the public is being denied access to various state owned forests." (source) Local endemic wildlife better not be near the many roads fragmenting their habitat.

Back to the aerial machines: “Up to 18 aircraft may be involved in these exercises, of which the major part will be conducted further off the coast, however northern NSW residents may notice aircraft activity this week." The aircraft will be the "F/A-18F Super Hornets from RAAF Base Amberley, near Brisbane and F/A-18 Hornet aircraft from RAAF Base Williamtown, near Newcastle." (source)

Ron Brent, Australia's Aircraft Noise Ombudsman, mentioned that the F/A-18s  "when used at full power... are among the noisiest planes we've seen here in Australia". (source)

In other places, aircraft noise has caused 'friction with surrounding residents'. One resident 'recorded jet noises as loud as 100 decibels at home.' "According to the RAAF, at Ludmilla Primary School the average maximum noise of an F/A-18 Hornet taking off from the RAAF Base Darwin is 92.6dB." (source)

A resident reported her experiences: "The whole house literally shakes...It's impossible to conduct conversations. You can't hear the radio...You feel the sound waves hitting your body...The worst part is not being able to predict when the noise will come...You don't know when it's coming. It's Chinese water torture...Then you start to hear it coming and your whole body tenses.." (source)

Celebrating Fossil Fuel Culture on Forest Roads
Staging Car Races in Nine State Forests of NSW

Images
Graffiti in the public sphere

Retreat

A long weekend in a retreat (60-something kms from Bellingen). Multiple huts in a rural landscape.

On arrival multiple fossil fuel powered machinery made the landscape 'tidy'. The disturbing and excessive noise and dust pollution hogged the attention.

On opening the door to the premises, one was hit by an intense cloud of synthetic fragrances that was cooking on a power point. All textiles were drenched in these potentially hazardous synthetic chemicals. Curtains and furniture seemed to be dipped in fire foam and flame retardants. The bedsheets smelled perfumed. The kitchen cupboard had, as in most Aussie kitchens, the well-used spray can of pesticide handy. The water, without a filter, tasted foul and metallic.

The closeness of the  neighbouring huts tried to emulate a feeling of a tight-knit sub-urbia back home. Families wanting a "getting away from it all" feeling ended up in the confinement of 'family cabins'. "Loudness-as-an-inalienable-right “(Wallace, David Foster) of families one might add. Large unplanned families with the full package of pets and all the baggage. Parents intensely interacting with their wearables. Many mouths scream. The child that cannot use language cries and screams.

The dads of instant culture pour petrol, meths or other accelerants on the meat altar. The incinerated meat stands in the form of cows not far off. They are usually pre-cooked in the shelter-less Australian sun.

The toy pets bark and squeal from the abuse of being mistaken for a horse. Agitated the free range dog chases the only Australian native fauna in sight, a brush turkey. For short minutes distraction culture goes sensation seeking and then they sprawl and sprawl.

The use of the veranda is impossible and the hut smells toxic. The entire night the resident rooster claims his territory over the visiting Koel and the array of family dogs bark and yap and yap and yap.

Next idyllic morning the neighbouring fence is being drenched with toxins trailing in a large dust drift. The posts are meters away from the line of huts. Copious amounts of herbicide/pesticide is being doused, the diesel of the tractor fills the 'shelter' up with thick clouds of diesel fumes.

We retreat to a coastal eatery.  A deafening aural ambiance from families being fed. In the food preparation area a white, plastic auto mist box disperses pesticides totally unmanned round-the-clock! At short intervals poison is being released on to 'bugs', staff and customers. Enthusiasts of old car wrecks generously share the fumes of their old timers which fill the entire cafe.

People just seem to tolerate the ubiquity of pesticides and noise pollution

We disappeared through the sanitised, chemicalised agricultural acres which stretch for mile upon mile. Australian flora and fauna has been eradicated or only fragments are left as retreats.

Images: 
Cicada, domesticated silkmoth, Bombyx mori and a diversity of flies, Alfred Brehm,  Brehm's Life of Animals

Even ‘environmentally protective’ levels of pesticide devastate insect biodiversity. 
 Common insecticide used in homes associated with delayed mental development of young children

Update
Pyrethroid insecticides exposure increasing in homes and people, 07022014

The Gleniffer Quilt and Craft Fair

Quilting, beading, fabric dying and rug making in the Gleniffer Hall
For 2015 see here. 

Celebrating Fossil Fuel Culture on Forest Roads

The International Automobile Federation is showcasing car culture on forest roads in the Coffs Coast region. The spectacle of conspicuous consumption of fossil fuel will attract 10,000 motor enthusiasts arriving with their vehicles to enjoy the "quiet country roads and an endless network of forest trails, lush green hinterland roads, creeks and rainforest drives." They will encounter "a variety of beautiful bush settings and will find tranquil spots in the towns of Nana Glen, Glenreagh, Lowanna, Bellingen, Valla, Raleigh and Bowraville and Argents Hill." There will be the breath-taking landscapes of the Newry State Forest, Tuckers Nob State Forest and the Wedding Bells State Forest


The Mid North Coast of NSW, still has various protected refuges for Australian fauna and flora. The rich biodiversity of life is able to coexist in more or less fragmented habitats. Sprawl and the arteries of automobile dependency etch their way through 'the bush'". Logging, mining and speeding cars already encroach on the environment.

Residents living in little towns, rural dwellings or bush blocks seem to be used to the roar and dust of speeding vehicles and the local wildlife smeared across the roads. The noise pollution generated by racing cars might hardly outdo the daily chainsaws/slashers/mowers/whippersnippers/trail bikes etc.

One just tolerates things in the country...

Once the bushfire smoke from three hundred and fifty escaped hazard reductions has dissipated motorised business as usual can continue.

Traffic-Related Air Pollution, Particulate Matter, and Autism
Exposure to traffic-related air pollution, nitrogen dioxide, PM2.5, and PM10 during pregnancy and during the first year of life was associated with autism. Further epidemiological and toxicological examinations of likely biological pathways will help determine whether these associations are causal.

See also
Staging Car Races in Nine State Forests of NSW, 2014 

Noise Pollution and Vibration in the Bellingen Shire, 2015 

Update
One child dies and two other children injured in Rally Championship spectacle, the guardian 10.05.2015