Stream: Earth Requiem: Wake Up |
At Greenwich Village's historic Judson Church, a masked and socially distanced audience was greeted by the stark image of Diana Wege's painting of Niagara Falls after Frederic Church—an image that has become representative of despoiled natural beauty for the Earth Requiem project—as it combusted and went up in flames. The spectacle echoed the IPCC's recent report that issued a code red and warned climate change was past the point of return.
A choir dressed in funereal black took their seats as violist Consuelo Sherba gave a striking performance of David Amram's tuneful and melancholy "Prelude, Prayer and Dance for Unaccompanied Viola" in its first ever public performance. The words of Genesis, as read by alto Katie Geisinger, led into a full choir rendition of "The Devil will be delighted to watch mankind destroy the Creator's favorite planet," orchestrated with subtle complexity by Eve Beglarian and sung in four different languages. Geisinger and bass Greg Purnhagen punctuated the music with quotations both scriptural and ecological. Despite the flames licking above, not all foretold destruction. Some gave simple planting advice, or posited a solution: "we could stop eating animals."
As the piece moved into its final section, composer Jeff Beal skillfully turned the choir's multi-lingual "wake up" from a lost and frightened cry to a triumphant rallying of voices, all conducted with aplomb by music director Malcolm J. Merriweather. The night's final message, "whose side are you on" hung in the air as artist and creator Diana Wege took to the stage with Merriweather, Beal, Beglarian, and Amram, together at last after the global pandemic has kept so many apart.
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Plant-based Recipe:
Egg-less-ent Banana Pancakes
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Serves 4
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup non-dairy oat, almond, or soy milk
2 overripe bananas, mashed
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk until well combined.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together non-dairy milk, mashed bananas, 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, and the vanilla extract.
3. While mixing dry and wet ingredients, heat the remaining coconut oil on a large, heavy cast iron pan or griddle over medium high heat until hot enough that a drop of water bounces instead of sputtering out, then reduce heat to medium.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until just combined. Ladle batter onto the pan or griddle approximately ¼ cup at a time, spacing each circle at least ¾ inch apart. After 2-3 minutes, carefully flip each pancake over with a spatula and cook 2-3 minutes more.
5. Serve hot with maple syrup, fresh fruit, and/or non-dairy oat or cashewmilk yogurt.
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This Month's Environmental Reading: More Good News:
Real Solutions to the Eco-Crisis by David Suzuki and Holly Dressel
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David Suzuki is an acclaimed geneticist and environmentalist. He has written more than forty books and has received the United Nations Environment Program Medal, the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for Science, and the Right Livelihood Award. Suzuki earned his B.A. from Amherst College and his Ph.D. in zoology at the University of Chicago. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Holly Dressel is an adjunct professor at the School of the Environment at McGill University, as well as a researcher and writer for television, radio, and print.
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In this revised and updated edition of their bestselling Good News for a Change, Suzuki and Dressel provide the latest inspiring stories about sustainable solutions to our planet's problems, including the newly defined problem of ocean acidification. Suzuki and Dressel see great promise in the increased support for green economies since the 2008 global financial collapse, and, most promising of all, they see more people than ever before working to heal the biosphere and live within the limits of nature's bounty.
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Spotlight on: David Suzuki Foundation |
Since its founding in 1991, Canadian nonprofit charity the David Suzuki Foundation has been dedicated to working towards conservation and environmental protection. Focusing on scientific evidence-based advocacy in the areas of climate renewal, ecosystem restoration, and sustainability, the foundation has provided support in joint projects, fundraising, and legal assistance. Notably, the foundation organized a federal lawsuit against the Canadian government in 2019 to reduce emissions. The plaintiffs are fifteen children and teenagers, representing seven providences and a territory, whose future will be irrevocably affected by the climate crisis. Learn more at davidsuzuki.org.
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