I see it vastly different. I have accepted that my rights are balanced by the rights of others. Why is your right to silence higher than your neighbor's right to cut wood on their land? I haven't become accustom to anything, I understand that my rights don't trump others?
How would you feel if you neighbor was into astronomy and told you that a half hour after dark you needed to turn off all your lights? Not just your house but your car as well so he could enjoy viewing the sky? Light is also a form of pollution. If I understand your logic if one moves to the country then one should be free of all forms of light pollution.
Geez, I said I understand logging noise and have no issue with it. Please re-read.
Yes, all rights are balanced--except when they aren't. Many people, most perhaps, feel they have the right to make whatever noise they want, when they want because they live in the country. No balance in that nor does it make any sense. What does living in the country have to do with the right of polluting the property of others? It has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with the fact that in the country is where we can get away with it.
Dirt bikes don't have to be loud, and lights don't have to allow skyward exposure--in fact, that is illegal in some places now.
The astronomer neighbor is well within his balanced rights to ask his neighbors to not illuminate the sky. The dirt bike neighbor is well within their balanced rights to ask for a quieter exhaust system. In both cases, they are only asking that unnecessary pollution be abated.
What is so unbalanced about that? The sky is supposed to be dark at night, light pollution has an impact on wildlife and people. A home is supposed to be a healthy place, not a health risking noise chamber. Property comes with rights that end at the property line, not three lots down the street just because it's noise. How silly is that idea?
Of course we should apply balance and tolerance, but we should also understand that just because we own property doesn't mean we have a right to determine what happens on neighboring properties. Property has boundaries. Noise is a physical entity just like anything else that can cross boundaries. I don't "owe" my neighbors the right to pollute my property with anything, noise included.
I really doubt the astronomer is going to ask anyone to black-out their existence. We need to use realistic examples.
