A thousand years after the collapse of industrial society, human settlements are sparse and civilisation has reverted to feudalism. Most of the earth’s surface is covered by the Sea of Decay, an intricate, toxic forest where the air is so polluted that humans can only survive for five minutes without wearing a mask.
Gigantic, trilobite-like arthropods – called Ohmu –
Gordon Hempton, an American acoustic ecologist and the founder of Quiet Parks International (QPI), studies the last places on Earth that are free of man-made sound pollution.
The PRZEKRÓJ Foundation invited him to come to Poland at the end of April. Together, we planned to explore whether the Białowieża National Park could become the first certified QPI noise-free zone in Poland. However, Gordon’s visit to Białowieża had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, the ecologist prepared an audio presentation of his recent trip to Ecuador, where he recorded the sounds of the Amazon rainforest by the Zabalo River. In 2019, Gordon’s organization certified this area as the first Wilderness Quiet Park.
