Polly Dyer – Seattle • Entered by Penelope Peterson on August 17, 2022
GOB Book Club
June 9, 2022 – June 9, 2022
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | 10 |
| Post Admin hours | 1 |
| Activity Hours | 2 |
| Participants | 13 |
| Total Hours | 37 |
Key Issue: Wilderness & Monument Designation/Protection
Activity Type: Education & Outreach (tabling, films & lectures, regional B-walks/works)
Key Partners: Polly Dyer Seattle Broads and a few Broads from other states
Measurable Outcomes
Outcome 1: Event Attendees (13 )
Short Description of Activity
For our Broad Book Club on June 9th and in preparation for our “Save the Silence” Broadwalk in the Olympics at the end of June, we read One Square Inch of Silence by Gordon Hempton. Host of “On Being,” Krista Tippitt, describes Hempton as an “acoustic ecologist” who collects sounds from around the world. . .An attentive listener, he says silence is an endangered species on the verge of extinction. . . He defines real quiet as presence—not absence of sound but an absence of noise.”
In 2005 Hempton placed a red stone in one of the quietest natural places on earth—the Hoh Rain Forest of the Olympic National Park. He christened this place, “One Square Inch of Silence.”
As always, I prepared a list of questions on the book to pose to Book Club participants. Here are six of the ten questions:
1. What did you learn about noise that surprised you or interested you the most?
2. Noise is measured in decibels. What are decibel readings difficult to understand?
3. In this book Hempton chronicles his road trip across the continental United States in his 1964 VW Bus. Why did Hempton take this trip? What was he hoping to achieve? What was his final destination?
4. In chapter 9, Elliott Berger, a good friend of Hempton says to him, “So, Gordon, tell me honestly. After everything that you know, do you really think you can make a difference in Washington? Do you really expect to be able to talk to the right people and have an impact?’’’ How does Hempton respond?
5. Do you think that Hempton succeeded in his mission in Washington, D.C.? Why or why not?
6. Near the end of the book, Hempton reports that One Square Inch of Silence was vandalized, and the stone was stolen. How does Hempton react? What does he do and why?
Reflection/Evaluation
Participants very much enjoyed Gordon Hempton’s book and said that that reading his work led to them to be more attentive to noise and to have a new appreciation for natural silence. We had a good discussion that served to create a basis for the speakers that we will hear at our Olympics Broadwalk at the end of June as well as for our advocacy to “Save the Silence,” in the Olympics from the US Navy “growlers’ and from other noise pollution.