21st century economics and planetary health
Pioneering partnership from Oxford arts and sustainability organisations sees release of environmental research music video.
Tandem Collective, Upcycled Sounds and Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute have partnered with The Bookshop Band and Eilidh Nicoll, to create a song and animation responding to research from Kate Raworth and Professor Yadvinder Malhi. The project was funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Today, on 28th November, 'Take Care In Your Stride' has been released: a song and accompanying animation created by The Bookshop Band and animator Eilidh Nicoll, responding to work from Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute researchers, Kate Raworth and Professor Yadvinder Malhi. The project was commissioned by Tandem Collective, produced and released by Upcycled Sounds Records, and supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
The song aims to communicate groundbreaking ecosystem science and economics research in an accessible and inspiring way. After a lot of reading, including Raworth’s best-selling book ‘Doughnut Economics’, The Bookshop Band decided to explore themes of planetary health, unsustainable economic growth, and undervalued parts of the economy, such as parenting.
‘We thought it'd be fun to try and write a lullaby, something a parent might sing to their child, with some of those messages in - messages that you might sing to your child to hope they have a happy life. If they feel appropriate and right to sing to your baby now, then surely they are self-evident enough for anyone.’ Beth Porter and Ben Please, The Bookshop Band.
“Scientists can provide facts and evidence about environmental change, working at a cerebral level. The arts on the other hand reach the intuitive level, where you respond emotionally, and this can lead to a complementary understanding. This song is a beautiful lullaby that emotionally captures in a very moving way some of the themes scientists try to communicate, about the challenges of living on a finite planet.” Professor Yadvinder Malhi.
“I was delighted to work with the Bookshop Band on this song. We all need to understand the context we live in, we all need to feel that we can be part of that solution and I think the arts are a fantastic way of opening up that conversation.” Kate Raworth.
The song and animation will be released on November 28th through all major digital platforms. There will be an online live chat hosted by the Environmental Change Institute from 1-2 pm on the launch day. Project collaborators will discuss the role of the arts to communicate environmental research. The song has already been premiered live at Tandem Festival earlier this year.
There will be a live chat at 1pm on the 28th November on Twitter, follow and interact using the #thrivenotgrow
To download the track, visit: http://hyperurl.co/ThriveNotGrow
