I don't think it's my place

an interpersonal, theoretical, and material exploration of climate change and complicity

this piece was produced by Sophia Steinert-Evoy with original boops by William Smith and help and trust from her anonymous friend, and editorial support from Jess Shane and Michelle Macklem.

Sophia writes:

energy usage and sound are two omnipresent components of our daily life. we're constantly trying to weigh our own wants and complicities against individual sacrifices and the perceived "difference" our actions can make. In this piece I wanted to capture an interpersonal interaction about climate and personal responsibility, so I spoke with a friend who works in the oil and gas industry. I found he has many of the same moral quandaries as those of us who consider ourselves to be less directly implicated in the production of fossil fuels, which brought up questions of personal responsibility. I captured sounds of latent energy usage in my daily life: the stove, the laundry machine, a lawnmower, my car, the garage door, the shower to highlight how integrated energy usage and thus destruction is.

I'm currently in graduate school, and in the academy there's been a shift towards "environmental humanities" or other incorporations of climate into thinking about humanity, capital, and oppression--so I incorporated some excerpts from scholarship that I have read in school that have been floating around in my brain. Thus, I tried to capture this lofty idea of "climate change" on personal, theoretical, and material levels, and embody the anxiety that undergirds thinking about these ideas on any level through sound.

inspirations and recommendations:

Elisabeth Anker's work, some of which is included in this piece, has expanded my thinking on freedom, writing, and climate change.

Marwa is one poet who inspires me and helps me think about different ways to use language as expression.

both of these songs are SO evocative of middle school to me and it's funny that they're coming back in this absurd form on tiktok. The songs make no sense together (I guess they have the same BPM?) but there's something magnetic about it. It's like almost difficult to listen to, but you want to keep listening? I don't know that it's inspired me, but it's made me really happy and I think we could all use some of that right now...
The baseline in this song inspired the boops by Will, to me it sounded so simple but like so many other things, a heartbeat, a headache, a stove. Mechanic and organic.
I have gratitude for the people putting their bodies on the line in Brooklyn right now to prevent a new pipeline in our backyards.