In the general discussion about environmental pollution one topic that is often overlooked is that of noise pollution. Noise pollution can be defined as the excessive human, animal or machine created environmental noise that disrupts the activity or balance of human and/or animal life. In Frankfurt, Germany a recently approved plan to further expand the country’s largest airport, Frankfurt International Airport has greatly agitated the local residents who view this as the last straw in a decades old conflict with the airport authority, Fraport, over the airport’s continuing expansionary policy of increasing flights and adding runways and flight paths. After the protests in the past over the addition of several highway routes to the region and the past expansion of the airport, Fraport had agreed to a mediation process with local government and local residents before their latest expansion last year. During this mediation they agreed to stop night flights (ie. flights between 11pm and 5am), however within months of the agreement they had rerouted many of their flight paths so that people who were originally unaffected by the noise pollution were now affected and those who were already affected now had an increase in air traffic.  The airport also did not uphold the agreement to stop night flying, breaking the agreement with the local residents.

In the past few months, those in the Frankfurt metropolitan area have mobilized and worked together to put a stop to further expansion, and have organized many rallies where they have shown their unity on this issue. Last month, 5000 local residents blocked an airport runway in an attempt to make their point. They have also started legal action to reduce the noise pollution, how effective it will be remains to be seen, however one thing is for certain with the vast majority of the Frankfurt communities on their side, they cannot be ignored. When people come together and act as a community, governments and indeed corporations will listen. This can be seen in the Fraport case where the debate is now occurring on a national level becoming a national news topic and increasing pressure on Fraport. Another interesting aspect of this particular case is the makeup of the protesters. Unlike many other protests in the past such as nuclear energy protests, APEC or more recently the Occupy Movement, the majority of those protesting are not your stereotypical young protester but rather middle-aged people, pensioners, families and immigrant communities who are coming together on the issue and acting collectively for the benefit of everyone. It's a powerful message, illustrating what we can accomplish as a community.