No mechanized sound

Every week or so I get an Instagram post from Kangaroo Sanctuary in Mparntwe, Australia. Kangaroos are playful, smelly, smart, violent, loving, creative beings I love to watch. I am linking to a video here because it is incredible to see these dozens of kangaroos moving through wide open desert on their morning walk, but once you’ve watched it, you might want to listen to it. It is the lack of mechanized sound that struck me: wind, the persistent rustle of tall scrub, thumps on thick bare dirt, a bird call now and then. It is the rare, reassuring sound of undeveloped planet and cared-for beasts.

Image credit: "Marsupials," Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1902.