June 2, 2011 – Musicians have always drawn inspiration from the world around them, but what happens when that world is in trouble?
For an increasing number of environmentally minded artists, their efforts are moving off-stage. Instead of writing green lyrics, they are setting up foundations, leading conservation drives, greening their tours, and changing the faces of both environmentalism and music.
“Music can get into a lot of different hearts and souls and ears. It can be a powerful, almost a subliminal force,” Sarah Harmer says in an exclusive interview in Alternatives Journal’s first issue devoted exclusively to music.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES:
PODCAST: Rock out with our Music & Environment podcast, featuring exclusive interviews with Sarah Harmer, Greg Brown, and John Timmins, the producer of Greenpeace’s Amchitka concert CD.
VIDEO: Check out Sarah Harmer performing on Mount Nemo.
Editorial: In The Key of G
Nicola Ross
Letters to the Editor: 37.4
Candy coated chocolate facts; Suncor advertorials – keep talking
Footprint in Mouth
Gareth Lind
Why the Harper majority is good for the environment.
In Brief: Japan’s Nuclear Fallout
In Brief: Vegetable Tourism with Public Greens
In Brief: Pig Parts and Frankenmilk
Kulturträger
Mark Meisner
Miami’s Vice: Florida may be leading America’s slide into ignorance, weirdness and triviality, but it’s a fine comic target for Carl Hiaasen.
Do As I Do, Not As I Sing
Tenille Bonoguore
For Sarah Harmer, Jack Johnson and other green-hearted musicians, actions are proving louder than words.
A Song for All Seasons
Eco Wise Guy
Andrew Mark
Exclusive interview: Ex-Blue Rodeo keyboardist Bob Wiseman isn’t content to just sing about environmental and social injustice. He wants to shock you into action.
Hér á ég heima (Here is my home)
Anna Bowen
While some artists separate activism from their music, Björk – Iceland’s greatest export – puts nature dead centre in everything she does, including taking on Canada’s Magma Energy Corp.
Escarpment Blues
Nicola Ross
Exclusive interview: Juno-winning singer/songwriter Sarah Harmer released
her fifth album in 2010, but it was Mount Nemo, aggregate extraction and her
advocacy work with PERL that she discussed with Alternatives.
Opera in the Woods
Rae Crossman
Lakes sing and magic reigns in R. Murray Schafer’s Patria.
Leave No Footprints
Brian Walsh
Bruce Cockburn marries the environmental crisis to our loss of spiritual imagination.
iWaste
Mark Brooks
The real cost of music, and how you can trim the bill.
Mama Nature’s Fire
Marcia Ruby
Exclusive interview: Wisdom and rhythm of the elders pulse through Greg Brown’s veins.
Canadian Idols
Alison Wearing and Jarmo Jalava
The Suzuki Foundation’s simple quest for an environmental anthem became a 20-song Playlist for the Planet.
Guide to Greener Festivals
From East to West, music festivals are harmonizing their vision with sustainability.
Sustainability Suspicisions
Mark Jaccard
Let’s Get Serious: Focusing on behavioural change is an easy excuse for politicians to avoid implementing greenhouse-gas-cutting laws.
In Review: What We Have Wrought
Martin Mittelstaedt
Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in An Age of Environmental Crisis, Sandra Steingraber, reviewed by Martin Mittelstaedt
In Review: Capital Reform
Paul Kaminsky
The Wealth of Nature: Economics as if Survival Mattered, John Michael Greer, reviewed by Paul Kaminsky
What’s the Big Idea?
Robert Gibson
Evolution: The nature of human origins is less important than the origins of human nature.
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