We have come to consider environmental pollution as unavoidable. Litter in the streets, refuse displayed in what’s left of the countryside, the stench of diesel in the streets,dust clouds thrown up by construction sites, excavations going on wherever you stroll or drive... we have gotten used to all this, even as we complain.
But now too, a different line in pollution has become prevalent, often quite strongly: linked to noise. It seems impossible for drills working down holes in streets to operate at acceptable noise levels. It is impossible to curtail the explosive noises coming from petards and fireworks launched into the skies. Or the music volume from late night clubs. It is just not possible for certain cars to be stopped from careering down streets with split exhaust pipes. Nor is it possible for a popular cafeteria to clean its hollow ware after it has been used by clients without releasing bursts of thunder from the washing machine it employs, all meant to burst the eardrums of other clients waiting to place their order.
Some will claim that it is not possible to blanket out noise in a small island that is overloaded with people. That’s an argument which implies all anti-pollution action is doomed to failure.
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In my neighbourhood
Close to where I live, a project has been developing: a trench has been opened at the side of the street, just under the pavement, for a distance that would take say, half a minute to walk from end to end.
The project was launched some three months ago and is still proceeding. Three big works engines are involved as well as a huge skip to hold building waste. During the long periods when they are not in use, these machines are left parked in the street, appropriating much of the parking space usually taken by the private cars of residents, which have greatly increased these past years. Of course, the trenches have eaten up additional parking space.
Twice or thrice a week in the afternoon, under a torrid sun, two to three migrant workers appear. They get the road machines moving and dig some more. The whole area is getting covered in dust and gravel. It is difficult to forecast how long this project will take to make it to the end, though it is also difficult to compare it to the Kappara flyover.
The first sector to be privatised in this country related to public works. We were then told that super-efficiency would become the order of the day.
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Nude dancing
Women’s rights organizations are right to protest against the “regularisation” of so-called gentlemen’s clubs.It will be another method by which to overlook the instrumentalisation and exploitation of women in our society.
The argument that any change incurrent regulations should be made in the context of a general policy that seeks to protect society from all forms of sexual exploitation, seems to me to be on the ball. But there’s more to the issue.
It should all tie in to the model that we would like to have for our society. Should it be market driven, allowing us to look elsewhere so long as people are “well served”? Or do we aim towards a society that really practises the values we always talk about but rarely carry out?
On the other hand, the preparation and implementation of an overall policy for this sector (as well as others) should not simply lead to the holding of endless studies and consultations – so that as time passes, nothing is actually done while the prevailing confusion gets worse.