musical recording and composition by chris zatarain

music and sound have long been used to convey and express that which can not wholly be put into words. this can include the complex and difficult feelings that can arise especially in a world threatened by global climate change, with music serving as a vehicle to connect to one another through our varied and shared expriences, to heal, as well as to inspire action and change.  

i composed this piece, the sound of mountains melting, after reading the essay by the same name from the book earth’s wild music by kathleen dean moore, ph.d. the piece is an electro-acoustic art music composition scored for solo english horn (a double-reed instrument in the oboe family) and fixed media, featuring field recordings from glacier bay, alaska courtesy of hank lentfer, a close friend of moore’s. 

inspired by the text, the piece uses the setting and elements of moore’s story to serve as an introspective meditation on the inner turmoil that can come with the uncertainty of living in a time of anthropogenic climate change. in composing and performing the piece, i have poured my own experiences, thoughts, and feelings into the story. 

in the essay, moore describes an experience she had witnessing a glacier calving event in alaska. to her, the experience is breathtaking, inciting an audible ‘awe’ as she watches massive blocks of ice crack and tumble from ancient glaciers. she even describes it as “possibly the most beautiful set of events [she has] ever seen.”

this feeling is juxtaposed, though, by the knowledge that thousands of miles away, real people are coming face to face with the very real consequences of a warming climate: catastrophic sea-level rise, severe flooding, ecosystem collapse, the consequent destruction of homes and property, and ultimately the loss of human life. 

these feelings resonate with me personally, not because i have witnessed glaciers calving, but because i have felt subtler semblances of these feelings when i encounter an unseasonably warm winter day, or when i relish in an unusually wet monsoon season—the result of larger tropical storms ravaging the coasts of mexico. is it wrong to embrace the beauty of the natural world—to feel warmth and joy in experiencing her majesty despite the world seemingly drowning and burning down around us?

i don’t think that it is, but i don’t think knowing that makes it any easier either. 

for those of us who have concern and love for our planet, it can be easy to succumb to fear, dread, and anxiety. i think it is important for us to grieve, but it is also incredibly important that we engage the beauty and the wonder of the world around us, so that we may have the strength to continue rising to defend it. 

here is a brief guide to the piece:

the piece begins with a mystical and uneasy feeling, as if to illustrate a sense of being a tiny human being on a little boat in a massive sea standing before frozen, primordial giants. icy crotales shimmer and the narrator speaks “the beauty of the falling ice spells disaster,” introducing the dissonance between the here-coupled concepts of ‘beauty’ and ‘danger’. the english horn begins by ascending from the level of the boat, rising to greet the glaciers in an exalted cry.

the thunder and boom of the cracking and shifting ice, as well as the screeching of kittiwakes sound amongst low, evolving drones and hissing flutes. the melody winds and twists, reasoning and sighing, meant to evoke a sense of grappling with the two complexities, coming to one almost-conclusion and then to another. multiphonics (a type of extended technique in which multiple pitches are played at once) are used to suggest a crunchy internal conflict and frustration.

the music at times is meant to feel turbulent, angry, confused, and even hurt. at its climax, the glacier, without warning, gives way in a large boom and gush. the music laments, sighing loudly as the ice fizzles out into the sea, followed by narration expressing the guilt and sadness that eclipses the experience, acknowledging a near-defeat by the the weight of climate change. the sound of the sea fades out and after a brief silence, a cry leaps out from the quiet. it serves as an alarm call, waking the spirit to rise back up and embrace the beauty of the world, saying firmly a resounding no to succumbing to the sense of defeat.

the narrator gives a final quote, attributed to hank lentfer, reassuring that we must be present with the world and its beauty, that we must notice it and be glad for it. the piece ends with a sense of weary, but hopeful peace, fading off into the sea.

i offer this music as a gift to anyone struggling mentally, emotionally, or even spiritually during these difficult and uncertain times. my hope is that in some way this music might help you to lean deeper into your own feelings and maybe even to feel a little less alone in some of them. 

i thank kathleen dean moore for allowing me to work with her text in this way, as well as hank lentfer for generously supplying me with recordings from the field to bring the piece to life. 

we know we’re dumping carbon in the atmosphere,
it’s warming the earth, messin’ with the oceans, climate change is here.
we know what we’ve got to do, leave it in the ground;
look to the sun, feel the wind, listen to the sound.

                                                                                                             -joe uehlein

long sung from the throats of ralph chaplin, pete seager, and workers around the world, “solidarity forever / for the union makes us strong!” is the authentic fighting song for organized labor, centering solidarity as their greatest strength against exploitative capital. yet for joe uehlein, it is hard not to see this as a “hollow slogan” after more than four decades at the intersection of labor organizing and environmental activism. to him, the climate crisis has pulled organized labor’s priorities—its “two hearts beating within a single breast”—in opposite directions, giving into a false duality of “jobs vs. environment” as though we can’t have one without the other.

as one heart fights for the health, safety, and future of its members, the other must protect their jobs, as “the smoke coming out of the steel mill smokestacks… [means] bread on the table” for america’s working class. through his tireless work as a union organizer, environmentalist, and musician, uehlein picks out a new tune that “speaks to something other than the intellect,” helping those beating hearts “recognize each other” and coalesce environmentalism with organized labor, taking down the barriers that keep these movements in separate “silos” to fight for a just, sustainable future.

though they normally occupy two separate political spheres, organized labor and environmental activism could not be more relevant, more interlinked, or more personal for uehlein. the social life of his ohio hometown revolved around the united steelworkers local 1104 union hall, and both of his parents made ends meet thanks to their union work. but when the nearby cuyahoga river caught fire, uehlein and his community were forced to question what they were doing to “[their] paradise, lake erie.” signs reading “don’t swim in the lake” and “don’t eat the perch” were visceral reminders that the steel mill’s smokestacks represented more than just their daily bread.

uehlein brought this environmental consideration to the forefront of his work. after his early career in several union jobs—both as a manufacturing and construction worker, and as a union rep—and election to secretary-treasurer for the industrial division of the afl-cio—the nation’s largest federation of unions—he joined the un intergovernmental panel on climate change in 1988. “i’d never heard of global warming,” uehlein said, “but i read about the [congressional] testimony…and i thought, i’m representing the energy unions, mine workers, steelworkers, refinery workers. i better learn about this.” seeing both the available science and the presence of foreign labor unions, uehlein judged that america’s labor movement was dangerously unconcerned with the looming danger of climate change. however, pushed by the energy unions under their banner, the afl-cio opposed uehlein’s work on the 1997 kyoto protocol, undercutting their own representation on the panel and causing uehlein to resign in frustration.

why is the afl-cio so reticent in its attitude on climate, despite the danger to its roughly 12.5 million members and to working people around the globe? of its 57 affiliated unions, many have no stated environmental policy, while a handful advocate for some climate action as a peripheral issue. that leaves a bloc of about a dozen unions—the building trades, steel, utility, and mine workers whose jobs depend on the fossil fuel industry or other climate-unsustainable sectors. far from being outright malicious, these unions have a legal duty to advocate for their members, especially in a time of increasing wealth inequality and corporate power. thus, these powerful and highly motivated energy unions direct the entire afl-cio into an “all of the above” energy policy, accepting “green jobs” and infrastructure projects while vehemently opposing any attempts to curtail extractive industries. in the early 1980s, pressure from the united mine workers dissolved the afl-cio’s action on community health issues like air pollution and acid rain, and toxic rhetoric about “jobs vs. environment” has continued to poison labor’s political action. following protests against the keystone xl pipeline, special interests like the american petroleum institute have learned to inflame these tensions and now wield huge influence through energy unions.

according to uehlein, correcting this is a matter of advocacy. yet, in his experience as a strategic advisor for the blue-green alliance, a founding member of the coalition for environmentally responsible economies, a member of the union of concerned scientists, the chief organizer of the afl-cio’s 50,000-strong presence at the 1999 wto protests, and leading countless workshops on cross-issue activism, uehlein observes that the prominent environmental groups who ought to be leading this charge are mired in shortcomings of their own. because of their general unwillingness to utilize direct action or mass mobilization tactics, these major environmental organizations—national wildlife federation, environmental defense fund, audubon society, league of conservation voters, sierra club—appear to deal more in respectability politics than the massive popular demonstrations needed to motivate sustained action. ossified by beltway politics and the need to remain respectable amidst the mainstream democratic party, these “big greens” hold intransigently to their traditional organizing patterns and lose support because of it.

for uehlein, the bottom line is that “both movements are losing.” traditional environmentalism fails to elicit the nation-stopping turnout of 1970’s first earth day, and traditional unionism has been greatly weakened in many sectors by multinational corporations and weak labor-rights enforcement. both movements, in their most institutionalized forms, are dominated by white male voices which fail to represent the women, people of color, and working poor who are most threatened by corporate greed and climate catastrophe. when operating in separate “silos,” labor and environmentalism fight each other instead of their common enemy.

yet despite the failings of big green and big labor, these movements have so much to gain from cooperation. the federal jobs guarantee, a cornerstone of the green new deal and other major climate legislation, would benefit organized labor more than any legislation in the past several decades. according to uehlein, such a program would “drive wages and benefits up and allow unions to do what they do best: negotiate good contracts.” the infrastructure necessary to transition the u.s. to a sustainable power grid would employ millions of americans across the country, and vigilant oversight could ensure fair workplace conditions that new unions to grow and flourish. and these new unions could bolster the waning power of american workers. history shows us that labor’s greatest victories follow minority inclusion, like women in the “9to5” movement or black workers in the congress of industrial organizations [the “cio” in afl-cio]. recent victories at starbucks and amazon rejected the parenting of established unions, garnering more widespread support by organizing themselves. with the prominence of black lives matter, youth climate activism, environmental justice, and indigenous movements, uehlein maintains that labor must platform and learn from these activists who are actually doing something.

how do we achieve this cooperation and dispel the toxic, false dichotomy of “jobs vs. environment”? uehlein now heads the labor network for sustainability, a research and advocacy group working out the nuts and bolts of a just transition. he was arrested for civil disobedience protesting keystone xl, arm-in-arm with bill mckibben. and he’s in a rock band. the u-liners have performed with pete seager, tom morello, and at both the rock & roll hall of fame and afl-cio headquarters. whether singing his originals or covering jerry garcia, bruce springsteen, and willie nelson, uehlein’s performances are a testament to his beliefs. he changes billy edd wheeler’s lyrics to give the unions due credit and prefaces each set with words of love, empathy, innocence, or revolution. as opposed to capitalism’s propensity for division and addiction, “art and music… arrest life and invite contemplation,” uehlein muses, and “help [labor’s two beating hearts] recognize each other and come together.” in tributing labor’s rich history of art and music, he marvels at how songs can tell coal miners to “leave it in the ground” with empathy and nuance that prose could never achieve. “living life is art,” he says, and when business-as-usual fails us, it is the unexpected gracenotes in our music—and our marching—that keep us fighting.

***

this article was originally published here: https://cawei.georgetown.domains/stia396_spr22/uncategorized/music-mobilizing-and-making-a-living-on-a-living-planet/

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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while waiting in line before doors outside your favorite venue, you may not be thinking about what it’s taken to make that show happen. but consider how you got there: maybe you took the metro or a bus, maybe you biked or walked, or maybe you drove, or used a ride-sharing app. if you take a look at the top 100 tours of 2015 (which sold about 60 million tickets) fans traveled approximately 240 million miles to get to shows, emitting 58,000 metric tons of co2. roughly 130 million paper goods were used (which is about 160,000 trees), and approximately 60 million plastic water bottles were sold, the equivalent of 48,000 barrels of oil. between 80 and 90 percent of carbon emissions related to concerts come from fan transportation.

venues can set up bike valets at shows, encourage carpooling by offering priority parking for those who share rides, and offer incentives at the venue for fans who use mass transportation.

artists can work with ticketing agencies to allow fans to add a $1 or $2 donation to their ticket purchase for carbon offsets. since 2008, more than 50,000 of jack johnson’s fans have offset nearly 10 million pounds of carbon, which is the equivalent of planting 250 million trees. if just 10% of the concert goers who normally drive took public transit or carpooled, 35 million pounds of carbon would be prevented from entering the atmosphere per year. it would take 800,000 trees being planted every year to scrub that much carbon!

tours:

you may not have considered what it’s taken to get the band to that gig either; given roughly 30 shows across the continent in a single tour, they’re covering a lot of miles. sure, booking agents try very hard to route efficiently, but sometimes scheduling just doesn’t work, and a band may end up bouncing from dc to boston and back to philly in the space of three days. and what if they have to fly? or if their production requires multiple trailers filled with gear? the economic impact (both in cost and revenue) is huge, but the environmental impact is even greater.

the sustainable biodiesel alliance has suggested using biodiesel, a renewable fuel that’s made from vegetable oil or animal fat. artists like willie nelson and pearl jam have begun using biodiesel exclusively, which burns almost 80 percent cleaner than petroleum diesel and can be used in blends as well. any reduction in the use of traditional fossil fuels (and their related emissions) helps.

consider as well the amount of waste that a single tour may generate; when you’ve got four or five exhausted musicians packed onto a bus for ages, those cans and bottles and cups and plates add up. in fact, artists like radiohead who strictly use reusable water containers can keep 18,000 plastic bottles out of the garbage per tour. these can be refilled at rest stop water fountains or grocery stores instead of buying cases and cases of bottled water, and more artists are beginning to request that the venue provide water coolers backstage for use with refillable water bottles in their riders.

live nation recently partnered with ups for the shipment of tickets, merchandise, and production equipment for their nearly 20,000 annual events, saving more than 300,000 sheets of paper/year and offsetting 3,800 metric tons of co2 emissions from over 425,000 gallons of gasoline.

facilities:

as new venues are built and many older venues age to the point of renovation, architects and construction firms are looking to achieve any level of leadership in energy and environmental design (leed) certification. in 2013, the iconic carnegie hall was retrofitted with an automated central heating, venting and air conditioning (hvac) control system, analyzing electricity demand and usage in order to reduce waste in the power grid. its 10,000 square foot roof terrace was redone with reflective pavers and plantings to reduce the heat island effect, and new led bulbs and occupancy sensors couple with the natural light allowed into the building through 450 upper windows to further reduce electrical waste, while low-flow plumbing fixtures reduce the building’s water consumption.

improvements facilities can make are both internal and external. venues should promote sustainable practices to their fans (i.e. encouraging carpooling or the re-use of plastic cups and glasses) while also seeking local vendors/sources to provide food ingredients and even alcohol (regional micro-breweries are on the rise) without the economic and environmentally costly impact of shipping across the country or even the globe.

the amway center became the first multi-purpose/nba facility to earn a leed certification by using 20% less energy and 40% less water than other similarly sized arenas, and brooklyn bowl was one of the first music venues (and bowling alleys) to do so as well. the adoption of similar design practices with a focus on efficiency and sustainable building and operations materials is beginning to spread through the world of entertainment facilities, and will continue to do so with the encouragement and support of you, the attendees.