Director of a forum sharing personal stories about the climate crisis and a musician whose music features excerpts from people’s recorded climate stories, increasing public engagement
I am a musician and the director of Climate Stories Project, an educational and artistic forum for sharing personal stories about the climate crisis. For the project, I facilitate online and in-person climate storytelling workshops for schools, conservation organizations, museums, libraries, and local governments. Workshop participants craft and share their personal stories about their observations of the changing climate, their emotional responses to change, and their convictions to forge a positive way forward.
As a musician, I write, perform, and record music which features excerpts from people’s recorded climate stories, with the goal of increasing public engagement with the climate crisis through the power of storytelling and the arts. As an example of my creative work, my piece for solo double bass, 'Footsteps in Snow', features interview excerpts from Iñupiat elder John Sinnok of Shishmaref Alaska speaking about how the sound of people walking through the snow has changed as the climate has warmed.
I am a professor of Global Studies and Music at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, where I advise students carrying out community-based research projects at US and international study sites and teach a course in World Music. I am also the leader of the environmental sound and improvisation group Earthsound, and I have performed extensively in the US and overseas. I hold a Doctorate in Music from McGill University in Montreal and a Masters in Interdisciplinary Ecology from the University of Florida in Gainesville.