This morning, Monday, February 8, 2021, I awoke to a beautiful day in Seattle—the sun is shining uncharacteristically for this time of year, and as I opened my kitchen window I was grateful to breathe in cool, crisp air. As I began my morning routine, however, which often includes listening to NPR, as I did this morning, my sense of wonder and gratitude morphed quickly into dread. As I listened, I discovered that just today a glacier broke off the Himilayas, killing dozens and leaving many more still missing in the flash floods that ensued. Just a little over a week ago, I checked New York Times to discover that a section of Highway 1, a beautiful, iconic road I had travelled along the coast just this past summer, had collapsed into the Pacific Ocean. I listened to a story on the historical environmental oppression inflicted on poor people and especially people of color. Just months ago, uncontrollable wildfires raged in California for weeks on end, killing and displacing hundreds of people and destroying large swaths of wildlife and vegetation. My own city, Seattle, in which I normally enjoy crisp and clean air due to the abundance of greenery in the area, became unrecognizably overwhelmed with smoke drifting from the fires blazing in California and Montana. I couldn’t leave my apartment for fear of the hazardous air quality for two weeks. I can only imagine the damage inflicted on the large homeless population in the area, who were subjected to weeks of breathing in air with an AQI rating of 170+ (the threshold for the determination of “unhealthy” air is 150). While in Seattle the air quality hovered around the 175-210 range, my partners family in Pordland, OR endured air with an AQI ranging in the 230-301+.
We are in a dire crisis, and despite the enormous scientific evidence of negative human impact on the planet and decades of concern over climate change, carbon emissions still rise. A concerning portion of American citizens and our elected leaders have the audacity to argue whether climate change exists at all, and if it does, whether or not we exacerbated it. Considering the rapid rate of climate change and its compounding effects, it’s even more concerning that we are still in this debate and haven’t yet taken extreme action to address this emergency. We are on a timeline. If the current rate of carbon emissions continues with no significant reduction, large portions of the planet that are currently populated by millions will become uninhabitable. Life as we know it will look drastically different as the weather we call “extreme” today will one day just become “weather.” The earth, however, will survive, adapt, learn to cope. My fear is that humans will not. We are, collectively, staring down the barrel of a loaded gun. Without extreme, sweeping global action, it seems there is little that can be done to reverse the damage inflicted on the planet. And considering the failures of numerous countries to collaborate to effectively fight the global Covid-19 pandemic, it has become increasingly desolate to consider whether it will ever be possible for humans to work together towards a common goal, even if that goal is their own survival. I’ve spent many days feeling hopeless, restless, and resentful over the state of society. But who does that help? Hopelessness will not promote change. Anger might.
And with this anger, a twinge of hope, of belief in human capability, our natural inclination to engage with our experience of shared humanity. All is not lost—yet. Despite the overwhelming feedback loops compounding the effects of climate change into greater and greater threats leading to higher carbon emissions and ever rising temperatures, there are swaths of research explaining what can be done—ending deforestation, regreening the earth, eliminating pollution, switching to clean energy. Many of these solutions are institutional ones, however. Which leads one to ask, what can I do?
It is my belief that listening with awareness, attention, and compassion is what is needed to save the planet. Through learning to listen to our environment and each other, to value each other, to honor the experiences and stories of our fellow humans, perhaps we can begin to work together to build a livable future. Music is a powerful tool to cultivate attentive listening and unite people together. In my own work, I hope to encourage listeners to bring attention to the subtleties of sound, and to bring that delicate attention to not only themselves, but the world around them. I hope to encourage an engagement with what is traditionally considered ugly, to find beauty and awe in the complexity of sound—and to bring this awe, again, to the natural world. Music fosters connections not only to each other through the psychological processes of participating in a performance—be it as an audience member, performer, or creator—but can also cultivate connection to ones surroundings by inviting attentiveness and compassion. I believe that through investing in our common humanity by engaging in attentive, deep listening, we can promote compassion not only for each other, but for the planet itself.
This still leaves some questions as to what practical solutions we as individuals can implement to combat climate change. While I resent the fact that the solution as of today is marketed in such a way that it seems to fall primarily on the individual rather than holding governments and corporations accountable for their environmental violence, it is true that individual change, at a large scale, can make a significant impact. Here are some things to consider implementing in your life to help reduce the impact of climate change:
Go vegetarian, pescatarian, or vegan, or at the very least limit your consumption of meat. Even if you feel you can’t fully commit to any of these diets, limiting your consumption of meat—especially red meat—will have a profound impact on carbon emissions when compounded with other efforts. Through reducing the consumption and production of red meat, it is possible to significantly decrease the amount of water currently being used for agriculture, reduce methane emissions, and free up large areas of land currently being used for grazing, reversing the deforestation of these areas. I have been pescatarian myself since January of 2020, eating fish for dinner once or twice a week and relying on vegetables for everything else. Giving up dairy, on the other hand, will be admittedly more difficult…
Shop for used goods. Fast fashion is a huge contributor to pollution and waste. By purchasing used clothing from thrift stores instead of buying new every time, you can help reduce the rampant production of new clothing. Additionally, purchasing used books and utilizing libraries is another valuable strategy in this regard. While I admittedly love surrounding myself with books in my home and making notes within their margins, it is not necessary to purchase new books at the rate at which I was previously. Again, buying used significantly reduces environmental impact, is far cheaper, and often results in obtaining clothes, books, and furniture with unique character one would not find in a curated department store.
Repairing devices rather than buying new ones. In a commodified society, it has become all too easy to simply throw something out and buy a new one when something becomes defective. Convenience has come to be valued over sustainability and ethics. By repairing devices rather than buying new, you can reduce the needless production of material goods in factories which negatively impact the environment.
Be content with less. By resisting the urge to buy into the latest technology and fads, you can not only save money but also reduce environmental impact while resisting a culture of relentless consumerism. In being content with fewer material goods, it becomes easier to realize that happiness and satisfaction comes not from consumption of material goods (as Western society would have you believe), but internally.
Take public transportation, utilize car sharing services, ride a bike, or walk. By not relying on a vehicle to get where you need to go, you can significantly reduce your personal carbon and methane emissions by reducing the consumption of fossil fuels. Many cities offer convenient free floating car sharing services for those times you do need a vehicle—in Seattle, GIG is a wonderful option over car ownership.
Contact your representatives. Do research on your representatives and what they’re doing to fight climate change in their policies. Put pressure on them to make climate change a priority through calls, emails, and attending protests.
Volunteer. Find organizations in your community to create green spaces.
Plant a garden. Through being self reliant when it comes to food production, you reduce the necessity for mass farming and transportation of food.
Shop locally. By being mindful of how far your goods had to travel to come to you, you can make the choice to purchase goods which traveled shorter distances and therefore have a smaller carbon footprint. And you’ll support local businesses! Farmers markets are a fantastic resource in this category, as well as small businesses in your neighborhood.
Limit your energy consumption. Turn lights off when they’re not needed, consider reading a book for entertainment as opposed to streaming, and turn off your camera on Zoom meetings when possible. Although we tend to think of the internet as a formless, ethereal entity, internet usage accounts for as much carbon output as the entire airline industry. Streaming video in particular puts way more strain on the environment than audio, so leaving your camera off in your next Zoom meeting will have a drastic reduction in your personal carbon footprint.
These are just a few places to start bringing climate mindfulness into your every day life, and this is by no means an exhaustive list. There’s a plethora of reliable resources available online or, most likely, at your local used book store, and I encourage you to do further research on your own and figure out what works best for your lifestyle. You also don’t have to overwhelm yourself by trying to accomplish everything on this list perfectly 100% of the time—you’re only human. Any change can make an impact when implemented on a large scale.
To conclude, I would like to attach my declaration of commitment to bringing awareness to the climate emergency, adopted from Culture Declares. In light of my concern for the climate and ecological emergency we are currently facing, I have registered as an official declarer on culturedeclares.org, and I encourage others to conduct their own research and consider doing the same. I hope to bring forth environmental awareness in my future works and do what is within my power to advocate for a green and livable future.
I, Darcy Copeland, declare a Climate and Ecological Emergency.
I pledge to work with and support our community and local government in tackling this Emergency, and I call on others to do the same.
These are my intentions:
1. I will tell the Truth.
Governments, and their public broadcasters and cultural agencies, must tell the truth about the Climate and Ecological Emergency, reverse inconsistent policies and communicate the urgency for far-reaching systemic change.
I will communicate with citizens and support them to discover the truth about the Emergency and the changes that are needed.
2. I will take Action.
Governments must enact legally binding policy measures to reduce emissions to net zero by 2025 and to reduce consumption levels.
I pledge to work towards reducing our emissions to net zero* by 2025.
I will challenge policies and actions of local and national governments and their agencies, where we interact with them, that do not help to reduce emissions or consumption levels.
I will actively work to imagine and model ways that my practice can regenerate the planet’s resources.
3. I am committed to Justice.
The emergency has arisen from deeply systemic injustices. Arts and Culture can imagine and forge shifts in the ways we relate to one another and the world, in our values and behaviors.
I will do what is possible to enable dialogue and expression amidst our communities about how the Emergency will affect them and the changes that are needed.
I will support demands for more democracy within our civic institutions and government.
I believe that all truth-telling, action and democratic work must be underpinned by a commitment to justice based on intersectional principles*, led by and for marginalised people.
*Net zero means that on balance one's activities are zero emissions, taking into account all possible Greenhouse Gas emissions and actions taken to mitigate or offset those emissions.
*Awareness of how systems of power combine to multiply the impacts on those who are most marginalised in society.
