Both, unfortunately in the case of Greta, because at least she, I believe is doing it for the right reasons.
Greta is a “useful idiot” who deters people from doing real action?
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Ok, fine. I agree everyone can contribute to a healthier planet.
I’m going to be doing my part elsewhere.
And staying on the topic of the music industry, a boycott of mega-events and major labels might be a start. Keep it local, keep it small.
That I can definitely co-sign.
I would even say that keeping it local is a good start for most things.
There’s argument that having multiple acts in one place at a given time is in fact less impactful then people going to see multiple acts in multiple places.
Great topic!
I think outsourcing manufacturing (of music gear) to China is one of the culprits. Buying gear from companies that make their products locally should be a good thing, because of regulated emissions, much less transport and no slave labor. The prices are lower, more people can afford more gear and that’s good, but also bad for emissions.
Here in the UK, there is this thing called Oddbox. It’s a subscription service where you get a box of vegetables each week in a box. The veggies themselves are surplus or slightly “ugly” unfit for supermarket shelves. This food would go to the incinerator. Things are slowly changing. You can read about it here: https://www.oddbox.co.uk/why
Also, buying used gear is better? I guess? 
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Yeah, the globalization accelerating after 1990 definitely made things worse. Without China I´d guess 70-80% of all our products wouldn´t be available. And gear made in China is only cheaper because it is being subsidised in one way or another (so much for the free market). If the true cost of transportation and environmental damage would be included in the price most of us couldn´t afford it anymore.
Used gear is definitely a good choice if it´s in good condition and the right to repair should be mandatory. If every town/city had a least one supervised repair shop with experts and various tools to either help you fix it or fix it for you we could avoid quite a bit of electrical waste on the landfills.
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No, that isn’t exactly what I’m saying, the point being that most “solutions” being offered are not much more than hollow comfort that something is being done, without actually being effective.
Of course for those people who were somehow oblivious to any of this stuff before Greta hit the news then I guess she serves some purpose in raising awareness, but I fear that the wrong direction is being pursued and that won’t solve anything on a larger scale.
But of course it goes without saying that if people take individual effective action because of her then that isn’t a bad thing, I’m optimistic that there are solutions to address and even reverse some of the man made contributions but at present not many of these are being offered, hence my use of the term “useful idiots”.
Are you sure? I don’t think economics of scale can be easily applied here. We’d need some hard numbers to conclude this discussion.
Cons, off the top of my head:
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People travel further and in greater numbers to get to these large festivals. Do they all take the train? Probably not - I don’t see many festivals without huge parking lots.
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Small venues have a smaller pull-radius. Efficiency increases: bicycle, bus, subway etc.
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Power consumption for PA and lights increases exponentially with venue area, especially outdoors. (correct me if I’m wrong)
That’s not what I was trying to convey. But, anything that has the potential to make an impact for the better will inevitably come at a price only few of us will be willing to pay, at least for now. Ultimately, it will come down to buying less shit, travelling less, giving up individual freedom, giving up a lot of amenities we’ve grown accustomed to, and I really believe we need to stop increasing our numbers exponentially. Enforcing these things doesn’t exactly strike me as particularly compatible with our concept of freedom and democracy and as much as I hope for a bright future for my children and eventually grandchildren I don’t think it’s going to happen. That’s not saying, we’re fucked anyway, so let’s do nothing. I just firmly believe that for the mindset shift it will take to make people adjust their behavior on a grand scale, things will have to get a lot worse first. Still each of us can try to use fewer resources and maybe, just maybe this will trigger a chain reaction. I wholeheartedly agree with what @darenager wrote below.
More realistically, we’ll probably happily continue to shovel coal into the engine of the steam train that’s headed for the abyss fully aware that at some point we will go with a bang.
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Yeah I’ve been looking for the article in which I read it but can’t find it. I’ll post it if I find it.
I’m not definitively stating as such, only mentioning the argument that’s been made.
One also should take into consideration the consumption used for touring bands with buses of equipment. That reduces considerably if everything is already there for you.
Definitely this is the only way in a free world … make people aware and understand what the facts are, what the problems are, and that everybody can and must be a part of saving the planet.
The problem I see is … as decades ago … the scientists report results … many politicians and leaders of the industry decline, and the masses ignore. Just let’s remember this …
Their warnings are literally from the last millenium 
Talking about gear … the OP is right, there is something wrong just to get something new to get something new and maybe to try to compensate something, which never will work The industry only produces the amount of gear, which they think will sell. So it’s in our hands … at least
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people do generally keep old synths running at least, it’s not like they get junked like phones for the most part.
On the other hand, there is a certain joy in making new music with repurposed 30 year old games consoles and computers rather than bringing a new synth into existence. So i’ve heard.
I don’t think even within the already nichey world of synth buyers people buy a synth every day, so am not sure this is the place to start in comparison to say, making car and air travel or industrial food production more efficient, or ensuring clean power generation. Not to say that we shouldn’t be thinking about everything as much as… you could ban new synths tomorrow and I am not sure it makes any real difference.
You have to hope that truly effective VR might reduce the need to fly everyone around the world to perform to some extent as well (boiler room seems like the thin end of this wedge already)
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The only institution that can effectively solve anything on a large scale are governments. Greta and Global Climate Strike and Extinction Rebellion are all calling out governments. I don’t think their cases have fallen on deaf ears.
Just old, hard - of - hearing ears.
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That is harsh truth and I think the same way basically. But to me the question is rather this: how much of my personal wealth/comfort am I willing to give up or share with the people who are suffering for our way of living before in the end we lose everything?
I´m also absolutely refusing any enforced actions that with the current Zeitgeist only mean that the average Joe is going to pay for it while the people who are actually responsible for this will again manage to profit from it/not pay their price. People always act like it´s either business as usual or back to the stoneage with caves and no electricity at least that is the range of arguments being thrown around in public discussions. If we could keep our basic needs covered and downscale the rest I think that would be a fair deal. We are used to the luxury of travelling the world, having several cars, TV´s etc. but most of the people (overpopulation is definitely a problem that the public likes to avoid) never had any of that and once everything crashed it will be forgotten pretty quickly.
If people in the end will choose to either downscale their way of living because they think it´s the right thing to do or just say fuck it and keep going is a personal choice. But that choice should be made because of a serious foundation of facts and that is already where the problem starts. For every argument one climate change activist has there will be a climate change sceptic that counters the argument and both claim that their source is the real thing. If you look at what education looks like for the youngest and how the media is being run by always fewer people there really is very little hope for a change.
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‘Investing’ in today’s and tomorrow’s kids will have the most impact.
Digital education promoted by extreme lobbyist forces is more than problematic in this regard.
Investing in children should mean: learning about ourselves, about mother earth, how to care for someone/something, empathy, listening, respect,… kids cannot learn these things from animated multiple choice quizzes on tablets … it takes effort from humans with big hearts to show them the way(s) … .
WTF, digital revolution should make living more comfortable for everyone,… not make us more and more stupid and fearful.
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Not to mention the whole data mining for personal profiles and the surveillance opportunities all these devices offer for whoever is in charge at the moment. Sure, we´re living in a “democracy” but with morons and criminals in governments all around the world that can change faster than we think.
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With respect that is a highly biased narrative which is of course far more complicated than face value “feels” The kind of argument devised to pit generations against each other, which if you actually think about it just shifts your focus to the “other” and that is part of the problem, many people aren’t aware they are being gamed.
You could call me a conspiracy theorist if that works for you, or you could look into things on your own, I recommend the latter but the choice is yours to make, it is a double edged sword that we all have instant access to information, because a lot of what is sold as information is just rhetoric and it makes finding actual information a lot more difficult, especially when you factor in the platforms which host and promote information, they have a vested interest in what you find first etc.
I don’t really feel the need to blame other generations, each plays a part in both the problems and the solutions, anyone that says otherwise is lying and it feels like some weird attempt at dissolving the importance of families, almost like an agenda.
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Great subject and deeply depressing at the same time.
I personnaly feel very trapped in this hyper consuming reality we have inherited where our main distractions from full days spent in nonsensical jobs that leave us tired and unable to help each other are videos of strangers telling us that this new thing of the day will make our lives so much better than this other thing we bought 2 weeks earlier and never had the strength to use.
I am super grateful for all this technology we have and these opportunities we have to “create art” but I’m pretty sure we would all be much happier if those hobbies of ours were not so focused on performance and consumption.
Sadly, companies like Elektron (and others) can only continue to exist by providing regular waves of new stuff, and although music technology might not be close to being the worst offender, the patterns of product releases are getting very similar to other high tech sectors.
If we want to change things for the better, this imperative need for novelty needs to be stopped and replaced with durability and restraint.
We really, really don’t need all this to be happy
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As a big fan of 40K, I feel we are going to be so much worse off in the future. Climate change will seem comparable to the Black Death, world wars etc. This will not end in the extinction of humans.
I admit being a terrible person, who feels that as long as I vote, pay taxes and abide by existing laws, its not my responsibility to stop climate change. Industry leaders and politicians have the responsibility to deal with this.
fwiw I dont fly, dont have a smartphone (thought I have a iPad), dont have a car nor children. But none of these choices I’ve made have been made because of climate change.
Go ahead, hate me
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