The Earth has music for those that listen

If you have a few minutes for podcasts, Spotify, white or brown noise, the radio, or some scrolling, I recommend listening to the world instead.

At aporee.org, anyone can upload a recording of what's going on around them. There's a map so you can explore and listen in. Waves and rain and birds and bees sound similar — beautiful — wherever you go. Here is a Japanese quince tree alive with bees in England. (Click on the link, give it a few seconds, then press play. Pause when you'd like to move on to the next.)

You can explore how we celebrate coming together. Here are five quite different weddings.

Uttar Pradesh, India

Addis Abab, Ethiopia

A North African wedding in The Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium

Tewkesbury in England

A Guinea-Bissau wedding in Lisbon, Portugal

And you can travel through time and space, and listen to birds and chimes from a belfry on a Sunday morning in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2020, before the Russian invasion.

And a Mosque calling worshippers to prayer, overheard outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem two years ago.

Worth taking a trip next time you pause.

Here's some spring birdsong from last week in Paliesius, Lithuania (click on the red text at the top and you'll be able to explore for yourself).