Fields of Green: Addressing Sustainability and Climate Change through Music Festival Communities

2014年9月在纽约举行的联合国气候变化峰会上，联合国秘书长潘基文在开幕致辞中明确表示：“气候变化是我们这个时代的决定性问题。这不是一个遥远的威胁。它的到来和接近比我们想象的要快得多……我们所有人在这场斗争中都有利害关系，我们所有人都可以有所作为。每个行动都很重要，无论大小。”潘基文强调以地方行动解决全球问题的重要性，而这个项目通过音乐节社区解决气候变化问题，迎接了这一挑战。根据英国文化部门领先的环境咨询公司朱莉自行车（Julie’s Bicycle）的一项研究（她也是这个项目的顾问委员会成员），向英国消费者销售音乐产品和现场音乐表演据说每年至少产生大约54万吨二氧化碳当量。现场音乐行业以及观众旅行占英国音乐行业温室气体排放量的四分之三（~75%），其中大型音乐节的排放量最高。这些数字与音乐节的品牌形成鲜明对比，音乐节是表演另类社区理念的场所，从享乐主义和狂欢节式的逃避（例如BangFace Weekender， Beermageddon）到过渡的社会意识乌托邦城市（例如伊甸园节，格拉斯顿伯里，后者将大部分利润捐赠给慈善机构）。该项目采用四种不同的学科方法（音乐社会学、可持续发展、城市规划和环境管理，以及基于实践的歌曲创作研究）来调查这种紧张关系，并与音乐节社区（由艺术家、观众和组织者组成）合作，解决气候变化和可持续发展问题，这是全球社区面临的最紧迫问题之一。爱丁堡大学、西苏格兰大学和兰开斯特当代艺术学院的研究人员与我们的社区合作调查员苏格兰创意碳（CCS）共同设计了这个项目，CCS是苏格兰在环境可持续性问题上为文化部门提供建议的关键组织，也是整个项目期间的积极合作伙伴。传统上，CCS一直与创意苏格兰资助的艺术组织合作，但这个项目支持他们扩大自己的影响力，与苏格兰更广泛的音乐节部门合作。我们将与节日组织者一起组织圆桌会议，以确定哪些行动可以使并鼓励观众在此类活动期间形成的临时社区中参与并制定可持续的行为。我们还将研究两个苏格兰的案例研究节日——因弗内斯的北行节和佩思郡的索拉斯节——并通过调查和访谈收集观众对可持续发展问题的参与情况。我们将让音乐家们参与一个基于实践的研究部分，其中包括与五位国际知名的苏格兰音乐家（包括学术调查员Jo Collinson-Scott，他以Jo Mango的名义录制和表演）一起制作一张数字迷你专辑，处理旅行和运动的主题，以及让音乐家们反思和绘制他们的旅行对音乐节巡回演出的影响。这项工作也将在格拉斯哥凯尔特连接节的一个研讨会上进行和讨论。CCS作为该项目的重要合作伙伴，将确保该项目的研究成果不仅能惠及学术界，还能惠及音乐节组织者、音乐产业、资助者和政策制定者、音乐家和观众。我们期待一系列与学术相关的产出（会议论文和同行评议文章），（CCS与音乐节社区之间的新联系，CCS制作的“下一步”文件）和音乐观众（Olive Grove Records发行的数字音乐专辑）。

In his opening remarks at the September 2014 United Nations Climate Change Summit in New York, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated unequivocally: "climate change is the defining issue of our time. It is not a distant threat. It is coming and approaching much, much faster than we may think ... All of us have a stake in this fight and all of us can make a difference. Every action counts, large and small." Ban stresses the importance of tackling a global problem with local action, and this project takes up that challenge by addressing climate change through music festival communities.In a study by Julie's Bicycle, the British cultural sector's leading environmental consultancy (who also sit on the advisory board for this project), the sale of music products and live music performances to UK consumers was said to create at least approximately 540,000 tonnes CO2 equivalent per year. The live music sector together with audience travel accounted for three-quarters (~75%) of the UK music industry's greenhouse gas emissions, with large music festivals accounting for the highest level of emissions. These figures stand in stark contrast to the branding of music festivals as sites where alternative ideas of community are performed, from hedonistic and carnivalesque escapes (e.g. BangFace Weekender, Beermageddon) to transient socially conscious utopian cities (e.g. Eden Festival, Glastonbury, the latter of which donates most of its profits to charities). This project uses four distinct disciplinary approaches (sociology of music, sustainable development, urban planning and environmental management, and songwriting as practice-based research) to investigate this tension and work with music festival communities - made up of artists, audiences, and organizers - to address climate change and sustainability, one of the most urgent problems facing the wider global community.Researchers at the University of Edinburgh, University of the West of Scotland, and Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts have co-designed this project with our community co-investigator, Creative Carbon Scotland (CCS), the key organization in Scotland for advising the cultural sector on matters of environmental sustainability, and an active partner throughout the project's duration. CCS has traditionally worked with arts organizations funded by Creative Scotland, but this project supports them to extend their reach to engage with the wider music festival sector in Scotland.We will organize roundtables with festival organizers to determine what actions can enable and encourage audiences to engage with and enact sustainable behaviours themselves within the temporary communities formed during such events. We will also research two Scottish case study festivals - Go North Festival in Inverness and Solas Festival in Perthshire - and collect data from audiences on their engagement with sustainability issues through surveys and interviews. We will engage musicians in a practice-based research component which includes the creation of a digital mini-album with five internationally recognized Scottish musicians (including academic investigator Jo Collinson-Scott, who records and performs under the name Jo Mango) tackling the theme of travel and movement, as well as getting the musicians to reflect on and map the impact of their travel on the festival touring circuit. The work will also be performed and discussed at a workshop at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.CCS, as a key partner in the project, will ensure the research from the project reaches not only the academic community but also festival organizers, the music industry, funders and policymakers, musicians, and audiences. We expect a range of outputs relevant to academics (conference paper and peer-reviewed article), (new links between CCS and music festival communities, 'next steps' document produced by CCS), and music audiences (digital music album released by Olive Grove Records).