Music For Climate Action
Climate change stands as one of the most pressing global challenges of our time, demanding collective engagement across diverse cultures. In this context, projects such as Tempo Music for Climate Action exemplify the power of interdisciplinary collaboration across disciplines and regions to address complex environmental issues.
By using music as a powerful medium to communicate urgency and inspire actionable solutions, Tempo brings together a diverse team of musicians, psychologists, environmentalists, and activists from various countries and cultural backgrounds.
The goal? Changing the emotional climate about climate change to drive effective action.
Tempo’s primary objective revolves around leveraging music's universal language and emotional resonance to inspire collaboration between climate scientists—who understand possible solutions—social scientists—who grasp emotional barriers—and musicians skilled in evoking feelings. Together, they seek to empower composers and musicians to create uplifting music that motivates action, offering hope and positivity instead of despair and apathy.
In the words of Dr. Lucy Jones, seismologist and co-creator of Tempo: “I am bringing together climate scientists who know what needs to be done to address the climate crisis, social scientists who understand the emotional impediments to facing up to the problem, and musicians who understand how to invoke emotion”.
The team brings together experts such as seismologist and musician Dr. Lucy Jones; Risk Communication Specialist Emiliano Rodriguez Nuesch; Pianist and Composer Makiko Hirata; Decision Research Specialist Professor Paul Slovic; CEO of Stratiscope John Bwarie; Psychologist and PhD in Ecology Sarah Dryhurst; Composer, pianist, and songwriter Shawn Kirchner; Executive Director of the Resnick Institute, Dr. Neil Fromer; Human Security expert Megumi Ishimoto; Psychology of Disaster Prevention Professor Tomohide Atsumi; and Isabela Miñana Lovelace, project coordinator and staff member at the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society.
Evoking Emotions to Break Psychological Barriers
Tempo Music for Climate Action fosters insightful dialogues between experts from all over the globe. Discussed topics revolve on emotion’s role in risk perception, collective efficacy, and cross-cultural climate engagement.
The Tempo Toolkit provides the necessary information from climate and social science for creating musical compositions rooted in science. It is available in English, Spanish, and Japanese.
Listen to Makiko Hirata’s -aka “Dr. Pianist”- inspiring speech on the power of music to heal and unite us.
Professor Paul Slovic is an active member and collaborator of this project. Here’s an insightful exchange between him and Psychologist Sarah Dryhurst.
“Tempo is about turning scientific insights into meaningful action”, says Emiliano Rodriguez Nuesch. “Research shows that music makes people move, complete tasks and help others. This is what we need to drive climate action. Tempo is also about asking new questions. If music can make our hearts beat together and synchronize our brain waves, can that synchronicity help us solve our most pressing environmental challenges?”
“Motivating urgently needed action to combat climate change is crucial.Awareness is the first step towards action, but it doesn't guarantee action without two important psychological ingredients. The first one is an emotional appreciation of the problem. The second is a sense of efficacy, believing that our actions as individuals and as a society can make a difference in educing this threat. I think music can supply both of these key ingredients needed for action”, explained Professor Paul Slovic at a Tempo Symposium.
We need to believe that we can still make a difference
In this talk, Makiko Hirata and Shawn Kirchner discuss the key role music played in the civil rights movements and the need to create generational anthems that motivate us to act for the common good.
The first step in addressing climate change is identifying what keeps us from taking action. The climate crisis can be overwhelming, leading to feelings of numbness and powerlessness. Projects like Tempo are crucial as they provide insights on how to communicate the issue positively and foster a sense of Collective Efficacy.