My right or freedom to swing my fist ends at your nose. My right to make noise ought to end at your ear. The effort to control noise is part of a greater effort to protect that which is held in common by the public from abuse and degradation. What these efforts share is the recognition that our well-being is enhanced when the commons is used to maximize opportunities for everyone, and degraded when the commons is used to maximize profits or opportunities for a few, or to maximize only a few opportunities. Combating noise is part of a larger struggle to politically and legally establish sovereignty and control over common or public property.
People working to reduce noise are environmentalists seeking an ethic of the commons.
Our success is tied directly to other environmental causes. The battle against noise is strengthened when other environmentalists succeed, and weakened when they fail. As the term sovereignty suggests, it is inherently a political struggle. This has several implications for persons seeking to effectively control noise. Join forces with environmentalists and build coalitions with environmentalists to educate them about noise.