It’s easy to be enthusiastic about promoting a great product like the one made by our client GreenFiber. After all, this environmentally friendly insulation is made largely of recycled newspapers, it’s formaldehyde free and it does a great job in helping homes save energy. What copywriter wouldn’t want to spread the word, convert people away from the pink stuff that dominates the market and make the world a better place? It’s great to be on the side of the angels.
But more than a great assignment for a terrific client, this time it’s personal. That’s because, in my latest project for GreenFiber, I’ve learned that between walls, in ceilings and under floors, this stuff is really good at blocking NOISE.
As anyone around me in the office can tell you, quiet (yes, imagine it on little cat feet in e e cummings lowercase) is a subject close to my heart. (Let me take this opportunity to thank my colleagues sincerely for their abiding patience and consideration.) As a writer, I need a lot of quiet. Maybe it’s because my childhood pre-dated video games, and I even recall sweet summers when the loudest sounds through open windows were katydids and whirring reel mowers. Others, whom I envy, can clamp on headphones and write away. Not I. The cadence of words can have no competing rhythms as they tumble around in my brain. Mercifully, white noise whooshes through our office and gently helps midwife phrases onto the page.
I know I’m anachronistic. But I’m feeling freshly vindicated by statements such as one from the World Health Organization in a report on the adverse effects of noise pollution that claims, “reading, attention, problem solving and memorization are among the cognitive effects most strongly affected by noise.” If neuroscience can prevail where common sense – and common courtesy – have failed, the world may once again come to appreciate the value and, yes, the necessity, of quiet. And our client GreenFiber will be ready and waiting. Sing, angels, sing.
"Especially with how our world works now, it's hard to achieve that silence. I tend to be able to work with some noise but typically only background music. It isn't the same as silence but it is the next best thing from being distracted by random tappings and conversations going on around me. The product you mentioned sounds like a cool one!"
July 21st, 2010 at 11:34 am
"Nice to know you share my desire for quiet, Drew. We may be in the minority. Appreciate your comment."
September 28th, 2011 at 8:01 am