Climate change & hip-hop on our minds.🧠
Climate change & hip-hop on our minds.🧠
Sounds Like Impact: A newsletter for audio and action - Vol. 8
Welcome to Volume 8 of Sounds Like Impact!
The title of this edition is not about this video or this organization (both great though), but this week we are talking about our mental health in the time of climate change and spotlighting a show that examines the problematic sides of a genre many of us love. Before we do…
Content warning: There will be conversations about mental health and some discussions about having children (planning and existing) during these volatile times. Please take care should you choose to listen and check out the resources in the CTAs.
Announcements: Last week’s issue on A.I. mentioned the organization Distributed AI Research Institute. Soon after I published I saw a post on LinkedIn from co-founder Timnit Gebru that they are hiring for an Operations Lead (remote, $120-130K).
Also, please share my curation with others, because A.I. alarmists again have people in a tizzy and it’s as if common sense has completely been abandoned.
I will learn tattooing to tattoo, “garbage in, garbage out” if there are folks (“the experts”) that have forgotten the garbage we’ve been putting into machine learning includes, but is not limited to racism, transphobia, homophobia, religious extremism and sexism, and those problems can only be fixed on the human plain. You know what has an easier off-switch though? Technology built with irresponsible AI, because that is a straight-up choice these tech founders can make. Okay, stepping off my soapbox.
🙌 Keeping the faith: Seniors in Canada are getting activated to fight for their grandkids’ future by turning against fossil fuel funders.
Read more from CBC News.
🎧 #AudioForAction Theme of the Week
All the feels: sorting through climate emotions
To plan financially for the future, or not? To track your individual climate footprint, including whether your take that flight, or not? To have children, or not? To deal with the children you already have and their anxieties over climate and your guilt as a result, or not? To move somewhere else, or not?
There are so many questions we are all confronting in the face of the climate crisis, and the feelings for many of us are immense. So what can we do about it? Well to start, listen to the curation below (feel + accept) and then do something (act + connect). And season this routine with some optimism.
Forewarning: the path to healing during this climate crisis is circular, not linear.
The New Yorker Radio Hour, How Climate Change Is Impacting Our Mental Health
Yes, Gen-z have been struggling with increasing mental health challenges and climate change is a big issue on their mind. But don’t be fooled, they are taking action, as mentioned in this episode and the documentary Youth v. Gov (Netflix).
Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question, Episode 2: BIPOC Communities and Mental Health in the Climate Crisis
Expectant, The North
This episode from #SoundsLikeImpact community member Pippa Johnstone is part one of a “six-part audio series that muddies fiction and non-fiction as a woman faces the prospect of becoming a parent during the climate crisis.” I’ll be talking with Pippa in a few issues from now about the series, but right now, 4 out of 6 episodes are out!
How to Save a Planet, Is Your Carbon Footprint BS? + Feeling Doomed? How to Tackle Climate Anxiety
The show I at one time worked on has a lot of gems, but I felt this two-fer was appropriate because a lot of anxiety we have is wrapped up in this idea of what is our individual carbon footprint. And while not exactly trivial, it is not as big a problem as you think (and was also co-opted by fossil fuel companies so…yeah).
👂Get the podcast playlist on Podchaser for wherever you may listen.
🚨 Calls to Action
Seek
Care: For your mental health and that of others, check out these resource guides from the Climate Mental Health Network and if therapy is accessible to you, you can search for a Climate-Aware Therapist (North America or UK).
It’s worth searching even if therapy has historically been out-of-reach, as each practitioner may have different options available.
Community: Find or start a group for those going through climate emotions, such as through Good Grief Network (there are programs for adults & teens). [🎧 interview with founder on Degrees: Real-talk about planet saving careers]
A therapy or support group setting not for you? Try finding a group of those passionate about the environment. For example, I went to a meetup with Black Girl Environmentalist the other week.
Read:
Online: Are you a fan of science fiction? Do you want to imagine a better future to inspire you to take action? Check out free climate fiction on Grist.
Newsletter: The Climate Optimist, a free monthly from Harvard C-CHANGE.
Books: (I haven’t read these, but have seen them consistently recommended or listened / read interviews with their authors) Generation Dread by Britt Wray, Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility edited by Rebecca Solnit & Thelma Young-Lutunatabua (there are free resources on the site as well, and you can also 🎧 this interview) and Climate Optimism by Zahra Biabani.
Apply:
Sign-up to host an All We Can Save Circle, and facilitate for a community that wants to focus on solutions.
Intersectional Environmentalist has put out a rolling call for content submissions. What sorts of stories are they looking for? “Climate Optimism + Joy” and “Black Climate Futures + History” to name a few. They pay 💵
Join: If you are a therapist, psychiatrist or other mental health professional, here are some communities you can join to improve your practice: Climate Psychiatry Alliance and Climate Psychology Alliance (UK or North America)
📣 Spotlight
If you have ever twerked to a Megan Thee Stallion song, gone up in a club on a Tuesday, repeated the TikTok sound “Material Girl”, watched Tiny Desk (any of them), Louder Than A Riot is for you. But also, if you or anyone you know has experienced harassment, abuse, gender discrimination or homophobia, this show is also for you (though proceed with care). In my opinion, this season of Louder Than A Riot also shows us that the mistreatment detailed is really a microcosm of how our society treats Black women and queer people in general.
Hip-hop emerged from the voices of the unheard. But freedom doesn't ring the same for everyone. Inside all corners of the culture, Black women and queer folk have dealt with the same oppression the music was built to escape. Season 2 of Louder Than A Riot examines who hip-hop marginalizes, and how misogynoir — the specific racist misogyny against Black women — is embedded into the fabric of the culture that we love.
The last episode in this 10-part season drops tomorrow, June 1, and unfortunately it will be the last for the show. This season was excellent all around and I want to send a special shoutout to #SoundsLikeImpact community member, senior producer on the show and my friend, Gabby Bulgarelli.
⏭ Coming Up
Next we we have our second guest curation and it will come from Erik Jones of
. We’ll also have an interview with Adriana Cargill from Sandcastles podcast. You don’t want to miss these! Tell your friends, family and colleagues too!🤗 An act of joy: This past weekend I took the opportunity to complete an NYC first for me: visiting the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. I saw the exhibit Deconstructing Power: W.E.B. Du Bois at the 1900’s World Fair on the day before it closed. There are books (1 and 2) you can read with the infographics. I also took time to check out Designing Peace: Building a Better Future Now (another exhibition with a book you can read).
Take care of yourselves! And if you listen or take any actions, be sure to let me know in the comments or via email soundslikeimpact [at] unofficialsocialchair [dot] com.