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e190 kim fry - appealing to hearts and souls
Season 5 Episode 190
- In Canada and many other parts of the world, we've relied on policymakers and scientists to be the ones communicating around climate, and they failed because they've only appealed to people's heads and haven't appealed to their hearts and souls. I think the big conversation coming out of COP 28 - and that you but I'm sure people at SCALE and others, we've known this for a long time, but it's kind of being recognized now - is that we need culture at the table. We need art and artists. We need to be connecting to all parts of people and not just showing numbers because that hasn't worked, and it's not working. And so I actually feel hopeful that art and culture being at the table will help with that whole overhaul and systems level transformation.
Note: I’m using Whisper Transcribe, an artificial intelligence podcasting tool, for the first time with this episode. It helped me generate quotes, create chapters (see below), generate transcriptions (see Transcripts section), produce social media postings (notice the new tone and hashtags) and write up the episode notes (notice more fluid language), however I’m a little skeptical about AI’s ability to get it all right (verification required) but it’s pretty good and saves me time and delivers a better product. However I will continue to write and record my very human introduction at the top of each episode like this…
Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. I had just completed my conversation with Tanya Kalmanovitch (see e189 tanya kalmanovitch - mobilizing the power of the arts) at No. 9 gardens near Kingston, Ontario (see e68 for more on no. 9 gardens) when I sat down at a picnic table with a group of arts and climate activists at a meeting of the Centre for Sustainable Practices the Art (CSPA) and right in front of me was Kim Fry. The same Kim Fry who co-founded and runs Music Declares Emergency Canada and is a hero of mine. I know Kim by reputation, but we had not yet met in person, so, on the spot, I asked Kim to record a conscient conversation with me about her life’s work in music and environmental awareness.
Kim now lives by the Atlantic ocean which is in Kjipuktuk, Mi'kma'ki territory, also known as Halifax, Nova Scotia. Before her recent move Eastward, she lived in Tkaronto for 27 years where she was an elementary school teacher, union activist, climate justice activist, environmental campaigner, storyteller and music manager. With the family move to K’jipuktuk, Kim decided to return to the world of environmental activism and music where she organized, among other things, the first ever Canadian Music Climate Summit.
You’ll hear that Kim talk about the power of music in the climate emergency :
- We need systems change, and so we need the whole way that the music industry operates to really rethink itself and sometimes some people might say that's greenwashing, because we're still talking about these big, huge multinational corporations when it comes to the music industry but I think there are folks who navigate that space and do it incredibly well.
You’ll also hear about Kim’s efforts to highlight the importance of creating safe spaces for emotional engagement through music and community such as the sustainability committee at the Juno Awards, which is dedicated to reducing the industry’s environmental footprint by promoting eco-friendly practices like public transit and plant-based catering.
A particularly inspiring anecdote for me was
Published on 1 year, 4 months ago