Weekly investigations into the intersections of climate and culture, or the lack thereof.
Last week, James Bay, one of my longtime favorite artists, released a new album called Leap. This week, the deluxe version came out, so I’m taking the opportunity to review my favorite song from the album. “Endless Summer Nights” is the kind of euphoric, windows-down, summer song that I don’t often listen to anymore. They just …
Growing up, folk music was the only sound around. My favorite cassette tape was the one with “Home on the Range,” we had a CD of American folk songs that was the only thing (other than Harry Potter audiobooks) that would get played on the 24 hour drive to Florida, and the Pete Seeger documentary …
About a month ago, I watched a movie. Was it one movie, three movies, or three hundred? I really couldn’t tell you. If you haven’t guessed, it was Everything Everywhere All At Once. Now this was one of those movies that I didn’t so much want to see as had to see. There was so much buzz about …
When the Roe v. Wade decision was leaked, and again today when the Supreme Court voted to ignore precedent, public health, privacy, personal rights, and the will of the people, I felt it in my body. The reaction is visceral. There is something about knowing that in the eyes of the law, to your own government, you …
I’ve been thinking a lot about climate and culture this week, because I live in southwestern Montana. As you may have seen on national news, my region has dealt with catastrophic flooding. My town, Bozeman, is fine, but neighboring communities like Livingston, Gardiner, Cooke City, Red Lodge, and many more, have been decimated. You may …
I hadn’t run into much climate culture news this week, and, as I scrolled Twitter, the strangest thing happened. Twitter took a break from serving up horrifying videos from January 6th and actually presented me with something beautiful. A poem by Ayisha Siddiqa. I’ve been getting into poetry recently. My brother has been memorizing prayers and meditation passages. …
Seeing as it was painted by Leonardo DaVinci in 1503, I’m not really sure that I can call the Mona Lisa pop culture. However, perhaps more than any painting on the planet — the Mona Lisa entered our collective consciousness and took hold. This week, I was surprised to be scrolling social media to see …
What does home mean to you? For me, it’s the peepers singing (very loudly) on spring nights. Or the way I know all the sides of the bowl of mountains that surround my house. Or the way the sun sets at 4:30 in the afternoon on cold December days. Really, think. Close your eyes even. …
After almost a year of covering climate and pop culture, I can say that some kinds of artists seem much more likely to engage with the climate crisis. Musicians are definitely one (see: Pitbull naming his 2012 album Global Warming… dude was ahead of his time.) The sleeper pick? The one you might not expect? Comedians. …
You may have noticed that much of the music featured on this newsletter is from young, female singer-songwriters. This is no coincidence. On the one hand, I think young, female singer-songwriters are uniquely attuned to the climate crisis in their art. On the other hand, it is quite simply most of what I listen to. …
