The climate crisis is a human crisis: soaring global temperatures, extreme weather events, and the loss of vital ecosystems and biodiversity are a product of our lifestyles, our cultures, and our political choices – all areas of life in which music is present. This module explores what music might tell us about the climate crisis, in particular its historical roots in the conflation of industrial capitalism and settler colonialism, and a resulting view of the world that divorces human existence and activity from all other living things. We will also explore how music has been used to respond to and resist the causes of climate change, and how music might help us (re)establish a more sustainable relationship with the natural world.
Students will develop an understanding of the political and cultural causes of the climate crisis, its present manifestations and future impacts. Students will use their musical and critical skills to develop individual and collective responses to our current predicament, and to (re)engage with the natural world in their everyday musical lives.
The module will be delivered via weekly lectures and seminars, with students conducting their own wider reading, listening, and independent reflection; we will also visit sites of musical and ecological interest in the Liverpool area, including campus green spaces, Sefton Park, and the Liverpool Waterfront. Assessment 1 is a 2000-word essay on a musical case study that offers insight into an aspect of the climate crisis or responses to it. Assignment 2 is a 3000-word reflective diary, completed over the course of the module, in which students will reflect on how the climate crisis impacts them musically and personally, and how they might respond to it.