Raving and the Planet: New Podcast Dives Deep Into Sustainable Club Culture
04.06.2024
Can dance parties contribute to the transition towards sustainability? What are clubs doing to reduce their emissions? How can a new awareness of our relationship with planet Earth emerge on the dance floor? A new podcast produced by social scientist Kerstin Meißner during a year-long fellowship at the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) explores these questions. Three episodes and an interview with Kerstin Meißner are available on most podcast catchers from today.
![Podcast "Shifting Basslines"](/sites/default/files/styles/cinematic_xxl/public/2024-06/Project%20Image%20-%20Refuge%20Size.jpg?itok=G9lpt2Ru)
"Shifting Basslines" is a play on the idea of “shifting baselines” – gradual changes in accepted norms and expectations in which what was previously unthinkable becomes a matter of fact. In environmental science, for example, the concept is used to describe our habituation to phenomena such as the decline in biodiversity or the prevalence of ever larger cars.
"The podcast is about initiating change in club culture towards sustainability. Shifting Basslines looks beyond efforts to reduce emissions to consider our emotions around climate change. It’s about letting ourselves feel and learning about different ways of doing things – like slow gigging and grounded travel – and understanding the patterns of our behaviour," says Kerstin Meißner. In each podcast episode, listeners can follow the – literal or imaginary – journey of one curator into the different angles of sustainability within club culture.
"Shifting Basslines" explores the following topics:
- Episode 1: Spaces and Mobility ("Grounded Travel On Space Ways"), curated and narrated by Nono Gigsta
- Episode 2: Data and Digitalisation ("Clouds Are More Than Water"), curated and narrated by Sarj Lynch
- Episode 3: Bodies and Emotions ("Dance Floors As Portals"), curated and narrated by Camille Sapara Barton
In an additional episode (We Can Not Do It Alone), Kerstin Meißner is interviewed by feminist researcher Cara New Daggett (Virginia Tech/RIFS Potsdam) and shares some thoughts on her motivation and the purpose and ideas behind Shifting Basslines.
The "Shifting Basslines" podcast will be launched with a panel discussion and musical interventions at an event on Friday, 7 June.
Further information:
- Visit the podcast website at Radio Refuge Worldwide
Contact
![Dr. Bianca Schröder](/sites/default/files/styles/square_round_2_up/public/2017-09/IASS_BiancaSchroeder_10022_QF.jpg?h=795d1a19&itok=eI4KZN-6)