there’s certainly no lack of social justice issues to choose from in the 21st century, but i was particularly interested in songs about climate change. i didn’t expect much in the mainstream way — somehow ariana grande’s new song from the movie “don’t look up,” featuring the line “get your head out of your a**. listen to the goddamn qualified scientists. we really f****d it up, f****d it up this time,” didn’t seem as poetically transcendent as a bob dylan verse. 

instead, i looked back in the direction of folk and found pinegrove, an indie rock band with a new album titled “11:11” on the way. from the first single on the album, titled “orange” –– which was inspired by photos of an oregon wildfire circulating the web –– to songs such as “flora,” “respirate,” and “11th hour,” the themes of the environment and the increasing pressure of the climate crisis are clear.

in a recent interview, evan stephens hall, singer-songwriter and frontman for pinegrove, walked me through his songwriting process and inspiration behind the album. he also gave insight on how he incorporates activism in his daily life and how he copes with the current state of climate change.

this interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

q: looking at the tracklist, most songs have some form of allusion to nature and climate change. was this intentional from the start or was the larger theme revealed to you the more you wrote and recorded?

a: i always go in wanting to write honestly about whatever i’m thinking about and especially whenever i’m feeling. between march and may of 2020, i was feeling a lot of pretty new things, and a lot of pretty intense things, and so it’s no surprise to me that a lot of climate anxiety made it onto the album. once i started to see those themes, then i wanted to emphasize or strengthen the themes, so that each song could sort of speak to the other songs without, ideally, being too redundant.

q: in the youtube description of the song orange, you describe “the ethereal, almost dissociative feeling of being alive at the end of history.” in particular, you sing the lyrics, “i try to laugh, or sleep it off. that awful feeling something’s off.”

is this feeling –– that we’re witnessing the beginning of the end –– something that weighs on you often? how do you cope? and do you remain optimistic?

a: yeah, you know, for every year between 2016 and 2020, i was so despondent. i cope with it by writing music –– and i also have to say one incredible way to work through it is to get involved. i’ve volunteered dozens of hours phone banking for bernie [sanders] and it really felt good to have conversations with people. i’ve moved from a place of actual despondency about our future to something a little bit… you might almost call it optimistic.

q: how do you balance making a song that’s catchy and enjoyable to listen to while conveying a message about a topic as serious, and at times as complex, as climate change?

a: i do try to avoid being too didactic. i’ve always thought that it’s important for there to be enough space for the listener to put themselves in and step into the song and imagine it. at least for my vision, it needs to be sort of accessible in some way, and also abstract enough. there’s something interesting about saying something, but kind of reframing it as something more accessible. for me, it’s more like a catchy melody or something like that, but the idea is that there’s something for everybody there.

q: as you said, often in music, people find comfort in relatability, where they can recognize themselves or their experiences in the lyrics. the interesting thing is as climate change affects more and more people globally, this too will have a greater sense of universality. do you think in this respect, the number of songs about climate change will increase in the coming years? 

a: how could it be any other way? more people will personally know somebody who’s affected or they themselves will be affected and i think we’re just going to see more people talking about it. hopefully that results in some real change. but i wouldn’t think of it as a trend, it’s more of just like an alarm bell.

q: it’s interesting because when i look to the past i see music and activism being so tightly linked. where is the anthem for this generation?

a: i think that the way people consume music is a little bit different. i feel like everybody’s listening habits are very decentralized… but you’re right that music is a great format for activism. i think that [just music] won’t do on its own, but it’s part of the conversation.

q: there’s certainly a faction of music lovers who believe musicians shouldn’t be activists and simply just want to hear them make music. there’s a certain ‘shut up and play’ aspect to it. do you think musicians have a role as activists, to use their platforms for a greater cause?

a: there’s not a template that you can superimpose on every other artist, so i want to speak very narrowly here, but the way i feel is that i have a microphone and i want to say what’s on my mind. i’m making the sort of art that i want to make and people engaging with it is completely voluntary, so i really have no interest in entertaining this ‘shut up and play’ crowd. 

of course they’re saying stuff in the comments occasionally. but you know what, there are many, many more people who are saying like, ‘thanks for speaking about this,’ or best yet, ‘i haven’t thought about it in this way.’

q: would you consider yourself an activist? would you consider the music you create a form of activism?

a: i would, but i also want to push back slightly against just categorizing myself as an activist because in a certain way that says that i’m different than a regular person or regular citizen. in reality, the barrier to entry is non-existent. absolutely anybody can be an activist. and i think that even if you’re thinking remotely revolutionary thoughts, or you’re interested, or you’re just feeling upset about the climate, to feel that grief fully is a revolutionary action, and we need you in the movement.

i’m not a policy expert, i’m not a climate scientist, but i do have a lot of experience writing songs. this is just what i have to give and i think that everybody has a role in the coming times, and we need to kind of humbly embrace what that is and do it, to the best effect. that’s the way community works.

q: what are you hoping people will take away after listening to the album?

a: i hope that there are some people who will feel a little bit of comfort hearing these songs. it’s, in some small way, optimistic, though it’s honest about the challenges we face. hopefully it’s a bit of a rorschach. you can find what you need in the moment and that’s all welcome and that’s all good. i’m just happy people are listening.

— 

the new pinegrove album “11:11” is out now.

cross, a social media and marketing professional, has been a fan of swift since the 31-year-old singer released “love story” in 2008. she feels she has grown up just “one era behind her’s” and views swift as an older sister of sorts. she is not alone in feeling this connection to swift; hundreds of fans expressed similar sentiments. 

for fans of swift, the last year and a half have been nothing short of overwhelming. the singer-songwriter released two surprise albums in 2020 and began releasing her re-recorded albums, with “red” slated to release this november. sister albums “folklore” and “evermore” expanded swift’s impact beyond the pop music charts and have now piqued the interest of an entirely new group: conservation scientists. 

these scientists are interested in the impact that swift’s use of nature-based language has had on environmental empathy. it could be the first domino to fall in a series of events that leads to resolving many ecological issues. 

“pop culture is part of how we see and know things,” said jeff opperman, the global lead freshwater scientist for the world wildlife fund and author of the new york times article ‘taylor swift is singing us back to nature.’ “we need artists like taylor swift beginning to integrate [nature] into their lyrics. it’s not going to solve [climate change] on its own by any means, but it’s a brick in rebuilding that bridge between us and nature.”

opperman’s interest in swift’s lyrics began when he decided to listen to the album “folklore” at the recommendation of several peers. he first noticed that all of the short videos for the album on spotify were of swift observing nature. slowly, he realized how often swift wove natural imagery into the lyrics of her songs.

“she’s in a meadow, she’s in a forest, she’s walking along a lake… it often takes a while for the lyrics to kind of sink in. you don’t really hear all the words, and then you start listening, and it’s like, ‘oh! she keeps referencing parks and trees and creeks and lakes and all this stuff,’” opperman observed. 

opperman began figuring out just how many more nature-themed words swift used compared to other pop artists. he compared the lyrics of the 32 songs on “folklore” and “evermore” to the first 32 songs on spotify’s today’s top hits playlist and found that she uses nature-based language seven times as frequently as the other pop songs. 

opperman’s analysis shows that swift’s use of nature-related words is highly uncommon in modern music. a 2017 study published by the association for psychological science titled “a growing disconnection from nature is evident in cultural products” found that the use of nature-related words in song lyrics declined by 63% from the 1950s to the first decade of the 21st century. their analysis of nature-related words in english works of fiction and film storylines found similar results. 

“it’s an indication that the culture doesn’t pay attention to nature or the most beautiful aspects of nature as much… if you value something, you would probably think more about it, talk about it more,” said selin kesebir. kesebir is an associate professor of organizational behavior at the london business school and the lead scientist on the study. 

the researchers found that as one encounters nature more frequently, it is more likely that they would include nature-related concepts in cultural creations. when they do not spend time in nature, they will not likely include a reference to it in a song, poem, or film. 

“the creative process requires creators to access elements of conceptual knowledge stored in their minds and to combine these elements (ward & kitayama, 2010). this means that nature-related concepts can make their way into cultural products if they are stored in the minds of cultural creators and are cognitively accessible to them,” the study stated. “conversely, if creators have limited encounters with nature or if these encounters do not register with them, nature is less likely to feature in their work.”

kesebir and her team found that urbanization and technological change are likely reasons for the declining interest in nature. technology has become a replacement for the joy, recreation, and entertainment that nature once provided.

the researchers also believe that these findings are of concern due to the strong evidence that documents the positive effects of contact with nature and because “cultural products not only reflect the prevailing culture, they also shape it.” this belief means that as people lose physical contact with nature and do not hear or see it in cultural products, such as songs and movies, it creates a negative feedback loop that diminishes interest in nature altogether. 

“if you don’t have these cultural role models, then you are less likely to enact that on your own… if you observed other people doing that, then you will be more likely to do that on your own,” said kesebir. 

kesebir, a ph.d. in social psychology, believes that swift’s impact on redeveloping this connection to nature could be significant, especially because she is this role model to so many people. she believes that swift has far more reach than authors like ralph waldo emerson, who wrote about nature in the past. 

“i think it’s this key sort of on-ramp to becoming an active conservationist. that first step is like, ‘oh, the woods are pretty. taylor swift liked it; maybe i should go outside, take some pictures.’ i think that’s definitely a key first step on that continuum. at sustain, we like to just take that to the next step further and link it to a call to action,” said betsy mortensen, the ceo and co-founder of sustain. this non-profit organization partners environmental organizations with the music industry. 

sustain holds song-writing retreats that bring people into national parks to connect with nature and form an emotional connection to public lands. sustain also has a program called trail sessions, which pairs outdoor concerts with guided educational hikes at public lands. 

“70% of people that attend trail sessions have never visited our featured locations before, which kind of stunned me. so it is like a big part of the reason that people are coming out to these is because of the music component that they’re attracted to, like, ‘oh, i know this band, this sounds cool. i feel comfortable going to this place that i’ve never been because the band is there,’” said mortensen, who has a master’s degree in environment, society, and development. “95% of people intend to return to these places on their own.”

however, mortensen and sustain co-founder, harrison goodale, said that swift’s nature-related lyrics are just the first step in inspiring people to connect to the outdoors. 

“i think that there is significance if the artists were able to promote the conservation efforts in terms of explaining why they’re choosing to do nature, rather than just be like, ‘oh, this is an aesthetic,’” said goodale.

goodale has a degree in music education and is a musician himself. he believes that albums like swift’s should do more than just use nature as an aesthetic. instead of just explaining why she likes trees, goodale thinks that a call to action that explains the importance of these trees could do a lot to preserve them. 

both opperman and kesebir also believe that swift’s music on its own will not solve issues like climate change. still, swift may unintentionally disband this negative feedback loop by creating cultural products that increase interest in nature. 

however, cross is an example of a fan of swift’s who has found herself caring more about nature due to the lyrics in “folklore” and “evermore.” on top of spending more time with her chickens to pose them for photos, cross has connected with specific lyrics that have drawn her closer to nature. one of the bonus tracks on the “folklore” album is titled “the lakes,” which includes vivid imagery in the lyrics. an example of these lyrics is, “i want auroras and sad prose // i want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet.” this song, in particular, led to cross paying more attention to her environment.

“i would say i paid more attention to lakes, which is so weird because obviously, lakes are pretty big here in vermont; we have a ton of them. i never really loved looking at them, but i never noticed how beautiful they were with the mountains behind them, and now i always feel like in my head i can really take me to the lakes, and i want to go there and spend more time there,” cross said. 

although there is no empirical evidence that swift’s music has led to more people becoming conservationists, anecdotes like cross’ prove that it is possible.

“there is this cultural deficit, and if the biggest pop star in the world does this, well, that’s at least a start in repairing the cultural deficit,” opperman said.

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drawing inspiration from the vintage national park posters of the 1930s and ’40s, as well as from hannah rothstein’s national parks: 2050, i imagine a world where our parks are celebrated, not for the natural wonders within them, but for the resources we extract from them. i have chosen the top five most visited national parks in an attempt to bring this issue, that may seem far removed from the american public, closer to home. it is up to us to make our voices heard, before this worst-case scenario becomes our reality.

write to your state and federal elected officials and tell them why you care about public lands, support businesses that advocate for them, and get involved with organizations like outdoor alliance who are fighting fiercely to protect them. together, our support won’t move mountains, but keep them as they were meant to be, wild and free.

—

for more information about the artist, visit: https://kaitevensen.wixsite.com/website

for the last 40 years, lonnie has been an artist and musician who highlights the realities of waste and environmental degradation. 

on the reservation, you are constantly reminded of the cultural loss of a harmonious lifestyle with the land. consumerism and acts of violence against the native people from european americans took away more than a lifestyle, leaving trauma and broken human hearts in its wake.

as an european american growing up on tribal lands, i saw glimpses of the mindset that allowed humans to co-exist with animal and plant ecosystems in many of the native traditions.  one example is through hunting; there is a respect for the animal that you are preparing to eat. there is a careful preservation of each part of the animal to be used for leather, antler bone, and meat for food to regalia. i also saw knowledge of local plants and what they offer (or how they can harm) humans. the lifestyle was social, efficient, and sustainable, but none of it sprung out of a desire to be environmentally friendly; native communities simply live this way to survive and enjoy life.

in the city i am constantly exposed to extraneous resources. it is almost laughably easy to find free food, furniture, or even clothes! the major difference is the availability of land for plants and living spaces. there was a huge movement in the lower east side to reclaim urban spaces for community in the late 70’s and 80’s. it sprung partially out of a need for safety and security, and partially for the lack of monetary resources available in the neighborhood. the increase in abandoned land and buildings made it increasingly unsafe for the remaining residents, so there was a movement to take back this land from its absentee “owner” and use it for community good. this was the impetus for local gardens grown on empty lots, squatters refurbishing and making abandoned and broken buildings safe again. the mindset wasn’t out of a need to become environmentally friendly, but these communities started recycling, sourcing their food locally, reusing and re-purposing their waste and the “garbage” of others. they became sustainable and happy from creating a sub-culture and way of life within new york city that didn’t rely on consumerism.

in new york city and on the reservation, i saw that sustainability can grow out of a need; not just an ethical sensibility or a desire to become more efficient. today we see a lot of differences pointed out in the media between rural and urban communities – which may distract us from environmental issues – but why not examine the common sustainable ingenuity arising out of the simple will to survive anywhere?

as an artist these revelations and others like them have inspired my work, but i hope that these communities can inspire more than that. i want to be a part a movement of people who are re-thinking how they fulfill their needs without consumerism. we should be looking to those who had no choice but to develop their own community sans consumerism, or those who had lost faith in consumerism because it could no longer serve their needs. let’s not try to re-invent the wheel, let’s do this together with past generations wisdom to rely on.
 

the answer, of course, is a resounding “no.” the truth is that this apparent mismatch of personality and appearance is no mismatch at all, and the explanation lies in the nature of the “weapons” percy creates. not harbingers of destruction, but messengers of hope, happiness, and healing; the bombs the artist crafts are designed to spread life, not death. and this is not just an analogy, for each tiny bomb is filled with flowers rather than fire. to be more exact, percy’s bombs are brimming with seeds that will sprout into an array of wildflowers and other plants when they’re unleashed upon the world.

it is not just plants that grow from the seed-bombs percy creates, either. what these little works of art are really intended to cultivate is a relationship: a connection between people and the places that surround them. the artist’s mission is to help others develop and tend to their relationships with their local ecosystems, teaching them to care for and appreciate the living communities in which they are immersed.

ecology as inspiration

inspired by personal connections to the landscapes and ecosystems of new york’s southern tier, percy works to explore and honor these connections through art. much of the artist’s work incorporates place-specific materials, from seed-bombs filled with native plants to hand-made paper and books created using flowers, leaves, and other organic matter from nature.

“i don’t think my art practice and my love of nature have ever been separate,” percy said.

as a 2017 graduate of alfred university in alfred, n.y., classes that focused on making art based on investigating place and natural processes helped percy find a sense of purpose as an artist.

percy’s recent work is intended to evoke curiosity and inspire people to learn more about the ecological communities of which they are a part. while an artist in residence at the adirondack interpretation center (aic), run by the suny college of environmental science and forestry (suny-esf), percy encouraged visitors to appreciate and become stewards of the environment.

the paper percy created during the residency became not only a surface on which to write such a message, but an incarnation of the message itself. by transforming native plants into raw material for individual, hand-crafted sheets of paper, the artist carefully directs viewer’s attention to the beauty found in the native plants we often view as weeds. one of percy’s favorite sources is milkweed, a native plant that is a critical resource for monarch butterflies and also happens to produce a beautifully iridescent paper with an appealing, silky shimmer.

gathering the milkweed seed fibers, which is best done in fall after the first frost, also helps percy get in touch with the cycle of seasons. these seasonal shifts — along with other ecological topics like the distribution of species — figure prominently in much of the art percy produced during the summer residency at the aic. the science bound up in understanding these natural processes provides a clear link between percy’s work and the mission of suny-esf, focusing on both the technical and social aspects of sustainability. by taking an innovative and beautiful approach to exploring the environment and our connection to it, percy is advancing a creative model for inspiring people to learn about and safeguard the diversity of life on earth.

creating connections between art and science

so while they may seem an unlikely pairing, science and art are clearly linked in percy’s opinion. the artist holds that the two subjects aren’t as disparate as they may seem.

“art and science are both about investigation and navigating the unknown, using different tactics to articulate the experience of being in the world,” percy explained.

if art and science can come together to help people learn about the world around them, it isn’t so far-fetched to believe percy’s conviction that art is also tied to another seemingly unrelated cause: activism. in fact, art and activism are inherently complementary, according to percy.

“[art is] a way to introduce new ideas to society and to conceptualize alternative ways of being in the world,” percy said. if that doesn’t count as activism, then not much does.

returning to the subject of seed-bombs, one can see just how socially — and environmentally — conscious percy’s art really is. the act of scattering seeds may not jump out as an effective agent of social change, but the purpose behind these little packages of life illuminates their true power. seed bombs are part of a tactic the artist (and others) have termed “guerrilla gardening,” the act of intentionally growing plants on land that you don’t own. besides spreading beauty and restoring native species in everything from vacant lots to public parks and even private lawns, sowing these “illegal” seeds subverts the social fabric of property rights, while subtly challenging the separation of humans and nature that has become so pervasive in modern culture.

while they may not have the explosive force of their more dangerous cousins, seed-bombs have a transformative power of their own. by teaching others to make seed-bombs using plants native to their unique ecological surroundings, percy is fostering a connection between humans and the environment, speaking out against the alienation of people from nature and a myriad of other social constructions. percy says seed-bombs are just one of many creative strategies we can use “to cultivate life and be a steward of the land without boundaries.”

all of percy’s work, from paper, to books, to prints and hand-bound journals, supports this creative and forward-thinking style of activism. and the artist says they are not alone in using art to push for progress in society. “there are plenty of artist-activists out there finding ways to use art as a tool to change the world,” percy said.

for those looking to try their own hand at melding creativity and environmental awareness, percy suggests connecting with others who have already opened their eyes to the power of art as activism. according to the artist, the best way to learn is by “just having candid conversations with all kinds of people — about what’s important to them and to you, and about the place and the community you’re both in.”

ultimately, percy says that “making art of any kind means forging your own path.”

in other words, everyone will come to their own conclusions about how to reconnect with the landscape, take care of their ecological community, and encourage others to do the same.

watching percy blaze ahead on this creative course, it’s clear that a determined spirit blooms beneath the artist’s peaceful façade. it turns out percy is a warrior after all; with bombs full of flowers and a milkweed-paper shield the artist is charting a course towards a better future for people, plants, and the planet we call home.

“the exhibits i remember most as a kid were at the exploratorium,” he explained. “when i got to really interact with something, it stayed with me.” his goal is similar experiences- wonder and engagement- through installations that are “simple, playful, and interactive.”as an interactive artist, he wants to create exhibits with a universal appeal so that that everyone young, old, rich poor, can understand and interact with his work. phanichphant views design as a tool to help people solve problems. with this outlook, he decided to apply his design thinking to his artistic endeavors and see what problems he could tackle.

one of the issues he felt was drastically under-covered in the 2016 presidential election was climate change. armed with a robust education in both human-computer interaction and product design, as well as his “superpower” for making abstract things tangible, phanichphant decided he was going to tackle the issue of climate change.

stories are better than logic

that december, he had an exhibition in matsudo, japan called too slow to see. he realized that the best way to make your work accessible is to know your audience. before he started thinking about what to build, he thought about the best way to get to know the audience he was trying to connect with. he began talking to as many people as possible to get an insight on the matsudo culture, synthesizing that into information he could use for his projects.

he brainstormed with post-its plastered on the walls, connecting personal stories with larger ideas, dialogue with inspiration, thoughts and feelings with broader social patterns and norms. phanichphant saw patterns between micro and macroscopic perspectives, gaining a deeper insight to what would really get through, not to just the citizens of matsudo, but to people everywhere.

“the first idea i had was that stories and feelings have a greater impact than logic,” he explained, an idea that exemplifies not only this series of works on climate change but in his current approach to education as well. phanichphant uses a “user-centric” approach when he teaches marketing at the jacobs institute for design innovation at uc berkeley. this perspective contrasts with the often-used product-centered approach, where students will often try to sell something by extolling its features and benefits. phanichphant instead wants students to use a narrative approach to describe how the product can improve lives and and solve problems. he explained that storytelling was a crucial skill to have and it allows the artist to better connect with the people that view their work. people can read information in words and numbers, but stories are what stick with them. this insight was the foundation for the in three emojis exhibit, in which visitors shared thoughts on climate change with emojis rather than words, like in the example below. ​

local is better than global

“the second thing i realized was that local is more important than global,” meaning that what people see around them is what they will care about. it’s immediate. it’s present. it’s what affects our friends and our families. he needed to find a way to make climate change less of a “global” problem and more of an issue people felt connected to.

thus, he designed feel the warming, an exhibit in which a museum-goer stuck his or her head in the middle of a model of matsudo, and a heat lamp would stimulate the warming effects carbon emissions have on his or her hometown.

action is better than talking

the third insight was that action was more effective than talking. he created together we start, or what he refers to as “a piece of art in exchange for a promise.” each person who interacts with the piece takes a small cartoon drawn by the artist with a pledge on the back, to do something small like eat less meat or bring a reusable bag grocery shopping. over time, as more and more people take the drawings off the wall, a message is revealed: together we start. just talking about climate change won’t do much to lessen our impacts. taking the first steps to reducing one’s carbon footprint while we see how we are a part of a larger effort to reduce our carbon footprint gives us some perspective on how our individual pledges combine to a greater promise to save the planet.

many is better than one

the final thing phanichphant wanted to emphasize was that many was greater than one. this inspired his piece connect our efforts, the piece that catalyzed the enthusiastic participation of the young boy in the gallery. this piece illustrates the hopelessness of tackling the challenge of climate change alone and the possibility of real impact when we work together.

the importance of collaboration is the thesis behind the next project he was a part of: air miners. while giving a presentation on his interactive exhibits in matsudo, phanichphant was approached to join the team as a designer. “instead of thinking of carbon as a burden, air miners frames it as something we can mine, an opportunity,” he explained, comparing it to gold.

the website itself is an index of all the companies working to reduce carbon emissions, bringing people that care about the issue together. “it’s another way to make the abstract tangible. before this website, a lot of these companies didn’t know anything about each other,” he said.

even though this is a niche organization, he hopes this idea of bringing people together based on a demonstrated need and a desire to help the planet trickles down and creates jobs and awareness in other places.

the echo chamber

it may seem like phanichphant has reached all his goals, but he has one big problem: he’s trapped in the echo chamber. “in the context of art and design and even academia… the majority is on the liberal side of things, and it made me think of how my art wasn’t really changing the minds of people who don’t care.”

hence the echo chamber, where we bounce our ideas in a space of like-minded people while people who have other priorities, whether that’s people who are struggling to survive or people who prioritize getting rich over everything else, are outside our bubble. his next step is using a design process to answer his own question: “what’s the most effective way to change minds in the age of changing climate?”

in this video mn2020 takes us on a tour through minnesota’s 2011 living green expo which harbors exhibitors such as different biking groups, conservationists, electric vehicle companies and groups advocating sustainability and how it not only saves you money but it also helps the world.

pals is a group of peer colleges of art and design that are working together to share and leverage resources.
this dynamic group of faculty, deans and provosts have made a five year commitment to integrate sustainability throughout our academic programs.

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