Accounting and Soundscapes : Putting Back the ‘Sound’
Résumé
The world is changing often due to humans, as David Attenborough’s speech at COP26 in 2021 made clear. It is also clear that the sound of this changing world is getting further attention such as the soundscape of logging (Burivalova et al. 2021) and how natural life sounds (Bakker, 2022) or its increasing silence (Krause, 2013). What is less clear however is how our presence in the world and the changes in sound we create link to accounting whether in the biosphere or as other sounds. This paper will make the case for the importance in exploring soundscapes links as part of human thought and action which rests to a large extent on accounting. As an unspeakable form of writing accounting, which names and counts, construct powerful knowledge statement and ‘truth’ claims that we can and do act upon (Bassnett et al. 2018). While being a silent and reductionist model of the world, accounting is a central part of valuing and decision making in most parts of the world and, when acted upon, changes the sounds in the world with it. Whether as selective timber logging, rhythm and traffic volume on the motorway, bar code scanning in shops or opening of new coal mines, accounting produces sounds in the world. We argue for the urgency of starting to listen systematically to the sounds produced through accounting’s silent statements – putting back the sound – to generate extended understandings of the impact, we cause via accounting in and to the world.