Listening to Climate Change

Catalog description

What does extinction sound like? Standing tall in our coastal wetlands are "ghost forests." Where a verdant forest once stood, now there are only dramatic, white pillars of haunted, dead trees. These forests are not just visually arresting; they are silent. While climate change can often be witnessed or felt, in many parts of the world, it is audible, too. In order to understand the climate crisis more fully, then, we need to listen to it--and that is what we will learn to do in this class. Together, we will explore sounds of climate change as it is happening in real time, from our own backyards to the Arctic tundra. We will allow composers and musicians to be our guides through this turbulent sonic landscape, and will examine the past, present, and future of global music-making about climate change.