Environmental impact of the music industry

The Lounge General Discussion
#62

That unfortunately is the north american way of business that is being forced onto the rest of the world. Why pay for research in advance and risk all the money when the product turns out to be harmful when you can instead just release it, let others pay for it and do the research for free at the same time? As long as there are sheep willing to follow others instead of using their own head this unfortunately will continue.

Premature releases are also a thing in the music industry but obviously with a lot less potential of harming your health/environment.

#63

A majority of politicians don’t have our best interests in mind. They’ll only do enough good, policy-wise to get re-elected. Therefore if you’ve put all your faith in them, we may already be doomed. They can barely manage a budget effectively enough to fix potholes in the streets, you expect them to solve the climate change dilemma? There is a green party in the US that focuses more on the environment but 3rd party candidates never have a chance of winning against the reigning duopoly.

I think bringing awareness is a good thing, but the actions behind this will be the deciding factor. Many armchair activist types will talk the talk, but never walk the walk. Perhaps if we all can just try to reduce our own carbon footprint on a micro level, it will help as a whole. Make conscious decisions on your purchases. Bring your own reusable bag to the market. Have a metal canteen for water. Recycle and dispose of E waste properly. And teach your kids this! Even small changes can have big impacts.

Perhaps we’ve helped a little by going digital for music production needs with VSTs and Plugins increasing in quality / use in the past decade, however you still need a computer to run them. Though the person running all ITB seems to have a 1 up on the person with a room full of gear, as far as consumption wise.

Also, If my cynicism is showing, it’s only because I have a distrust for politicians and they’re “Kabuki Theatre” antics.

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#64

That is some level of cynicism that one sees little difference between the Obama administration and the Bush or Trump administration.

One had themselves in the Paris agreement; putting a stop to coal ; caps on car emissions and the other believes climate crisis is a hoax perpetuated by Chinese; sues states for having their own emissions cap programs and attacks 16 year old activists on Twitter.

But tomatoe tomatoe though right?

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#65

Anyone still trusting politicians (to solve this issue) must have been in some kind of koma for most of his/her life. Politicians are just puppets for the stage anyway, if you look closer behind the scenes you will often find the same people in key positions, no matter which puppet is currently being pushed into the arena and no matter which polictical party is currently in charge. If politics even has a chance to change the situation for the better it can only happen on a smaller local scale where politicians are actually still part of everyday life and not living in a parallel universe.

Here´s something I´ve been thinking about that could help reducing the carbon footprint of all the transportation involved with new stuff:

If every country had several “open factories” that would produce the gear we´d like on demand with a guaranteed quality standard and with normal waiting periods (talking days or weeks max), would that be something you would consider? Instead of buying a finished unit you basically buy the licence to have one unit being built in the factory of your choice, maybe even the chance to watch (parts of) the process and get to the same place for any technical issues/repairs. Obviously you´d need several specialized factories since for example a bike needs different machinery and ressources than let´s say a synth. But just as a general idea… the expertise is there in every country so why waste all the talent because it´s cheaper to hire people in China and ship the stuff several times around the globe instead. Like I said, it´s just a basic idea that needs a lot refinement but I think it might be something to push this into a better direction. Until of course some criminal douchebag ruins it again for everybody.

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#66

I’m glad this discussion is happening here.

A few things to consider:

YES, the music industry has less of an impact than air travel or lots of other things, but if you buy gear (I do) you are contributing to the problem in one way or another. And, as a philosopher friend reminds me, when fewer people are doing the right thing, if you do the right thing, it has more of an impact.

The question of WHAT has HOW much of an impact is an empirical question. There is science on it. Get educated so you can make intelligent choices.

Individual action is valuable because it’s a moral thing to do. That said, it won’t solve the problem. Only large-scale, collective, international action will solve the problem. And it won’t be a technological solution that simply allows people in rich countries (like me) to keep going as they have. That requires organization. It doesn’t have to XR, it doesn’t have to be a government, but saying something isn’t going to work isn’t a plan. Help to make a better plan.

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#67

Samplers are very ecological : don’t have to buy all instruments you need !
Vegans can’t disapprove : no instruments with animal skins / bones / etc !

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#68

What pisses me off is that climate change problems overrides all other problems caused by humans.
Btw climate change seems to be part of a cycle, highly probably accentuated by humans, but the climate was already changing…
I think I’ll be dead before real changes anyway…

HumanGrowth
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#69

Most likely the reason many aren’t invested in a solution. Won’t be alive long enough to see the acid rain. An unfortunate truth.

#70

I’m talking about a global human behavior change! :wink:

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#71

I think my point proves your point. :thinking: Also, I’m not gonna bash on consumerism too much because I’m swimming in it like any other average joe, but it definitely takes your mind off the more important things in life. To our detriment and the environment.

#72

Who is “we” in this statement? Politics is about finding common ground between the interests of all people. I don’t claim there are no politians who only have their best interest in mind, but there’s 8*10^12 people on this planet. Who decides whose interests are valid and whose are not?

#73

I assume you mean that the attention that the media currently pays to climate change makes it so other problems get less attention?
If so, then let me just say that climate change will only make many other problems humanity currently faces even worse. There’s poverty in many parts of the planet, especially in Africa, where a high percentage of the population depends on subsistence agriculture. Climate change doesn’t mean its just getting warmer everywhere, but also changes in rainfall frequency, timing and distribution, which will make agriculture much more of a guessing game in the future, for many parts of the world. Here in Europe, we already experienced higher prices for many crops as the last summer have been unusually dry and warm.
You are somewhat correct in stating that climate has always been changing, mostly due to the Milancovich cycles. However, these happen on a timescale of thousands of years, whereas now, things are changing much faster and there is very little doubt about human impact being responsible for that.
I don’t want to sound to preachy, but statements like “but the climate was already changing…” just rub me the wrong way.

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#74

…i got fff every day on my mind…in all what i’m doing…and eating…
please don’t make me put on my glasses now even whenever i enter my studio…

even plastic can have it’s truu good causes and rare reasons for existence…sometimes…

#75

I personally cannot see anything being done till it’s much too late.

far too many vested interests, too many people comfortable with their lifestyle that they will not be willing to give up.
we create more energy efficient machines, but only to go then buy more of them,
we improve the materials we use for new stuff, but then throw out old stuff (into land fills) to buy it.

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#76

This - plain cold fact.

You will all notice that significant change only comes about when part’s of society - global or otherwise - are well and truly fucked and has it’s back to a wall.

Even though many of us, I am hopeful are to an extent, conscientious in some or many ways, we are inherently lazy and too comfortable. Technology is a key driver for this. It’s both wonderful and appalling at the same time. Technology ironically render’s the majority of us incredibly stupid and myopic.

#77

Oh, and BTW great topic. This discussion needs to happen everywhere where people come together, be it online or in real life.

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#78

Yes.

For humanity, sure. But for the planet?

I said highly probable! Sorry if it wasn’t enough! :wink:

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#79

The planet doesn’t give a fuck :smiley:
It has seen many catastrophies and extinction events and life always found a way back, although evolutionary pathways get thinner each time.

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#80

Ironically it will require money and technology to overcome many of these problems, but used correctly rather than what is happening now.

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#81

What’s even more ironic is that it will take much less money to overcome these problems if we invest it now to prevent the worst, instead of doing business-as-usual and try to fix it later :frowning:
Another good book I can recommend is ‘Reinventing Prosperity: Managing Economic Growth to Reduce Unemployment, Inequality and Climate Change’ by two members of the club of rome. The TLDR version: We could basically fix climate change by reinvesting 1% of the global GDP in the right sectors (in theory, practice is a little more complicated).

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