Did you know that today is 2011 World Listening Day, which happens to be the second annual World Listening Day? To be honest, I didn’t but listening has never been my strong suit anyway. Still, the concept in play here has relevance to bird watchers and nature lovers.
The purposes of World Listening Day, as enumerated by the World Listening Project (WLP) and Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology (MSAE) are:
- to celebrate the practice of listening as it relates to the world around us, environmental awareness, and acoustic ecology;
- to raise awareness about issues related to the World Soundscape Project, World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, World Listening Project, and individual and group efforts to creatively explore phonography;
- and to design and implement educational initiatives which explore these concepts and practices.
If you’re like me, you’ve never heard about acoustic ecology. However, the concept of understanding the natural world around us by listening attentively certainly resonates. So join me in celebrating World Listening Day: open your ears to the songs of birds and the wild world around you!
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.
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