Alternatives Journal 37.4

Rocking the Environment 37.4

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.

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.

 Read selected articles and web extras from this issue

Here’s what else you get when you buy the issue:

Letters to the Editor
Candy coated chocolate facts; Suncor advertorials – keep talking

In Brief: Japan’s Nuclear Fallout, Vegetable Tourism with Public Greens, Pig Parts and Frankenmilk

Footprint in Mouth – Gareth Lind
Why the Harper majority is good for the environment.

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.

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.

Opera in the Wood – Rae Crossman
Lakes sing and magic reigns in R. Murray Schafer’s Patria.

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.

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


Publication of this issue was made possible by The Gosling Foundation; The Salamander Foundation; and the support from our many subscribers. We acknowledge the financial support of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (www.idrc.ca); EJLB Foundation; Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation; The McLean Foundation; Ontario Media Development Corporation; Ontario Trillium Foundation; Ontario Work Study Plan. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) of the Department of Canadian Heritage toward our project costs. The support of the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo and the Waterloo Environmental Studies Endowment Foundation is appreciated.’

Here’s what’s online: