Cool Tunes For a Hot Planet

 Episode 50 explores the mysteries of Geologic Time with geologist Marcia Bjornerud and composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh, offering musical and scientific perspectives on Earth's multi-billion-year history. We discuss Dr. Bjornerud's award-winning books, Ms. Nourbakhsh's compositions, and other pieces of music that spread over mind-boggling time spans, including "As Slow As Possible," John Cage's 639-y...

Episode 49 of  Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet  compels us to take action to Get Out The Vote! With the stakes so high it’s not enough to depend on just “likely voters”. How do we encourage and mobilize more voters to register and vote? We know that music has given people hope and inspired action in past times of crisis. Think of the songs that have been guiding lights for the Civil Rights Movement an...

Episode 47 of Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet is about “keeping the hearth fires burning.” Holding a safe, welcoming place for those with the passion to struggle against the dark forces that sometimes seem to be closing in on us. It's a tribute to those who battle, through acts small and large, to keep us safe. And it’s up to all of us to provide shelter for those heroes - spiritual nourishment - to k...

Welcome to Episode 46.  We do a deep dive into what happens when governments and authorities ban music, with examples from Trinidad, India, Afghanistan, Russia, and Brazil.  Warren Senders interviews three experts: ethnomusicologist Matthew Rahaim (the 1941-1971 ban on the harmonium on India's national radio system), Derek Beckvold (the Afghanistan National Institute of Music after the Taliban), a...

Episode 45 of Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet addresses our need (as activists and as humans)  to care for ourselves and each other. We spotlight songs that celebrate the restorative, healing joy we find in music, humor, nature and dance– and in community, because ––even, or especially in dark times –  when we share positive energy, it can multiply exponentially, strengthening our courage and resistan...

Episode 44 is a profile of “Canopy Meg” — forest ecologist Meg Lowman, whose work revealed the “eighth continent” of life in treetop canopies everywhere.  Dr. Lowman talks with Warren Senders about her long career exploring forests all over the globe, and we share music on tree themes (including Meg’s own composition from 6th grade as played by Cool Tunes team member Seth Handelman!). #RainForests...

Episode 43 of Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet celebrates the 250 thanniversary of our country, with songs of tribute to what America is really all about – the strength of immigrants, and the richness of the diverse cultures they bring to the party; the nobility of the working man and woman, upon whose shoulders we all stand; the gifts of freedom and democracy, as we extend our hands to those less fort...

Episode 41 of Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet speaks to the plight of workingclass folks suffering under the thumb of corporate exploitation, the rise of fascist cruelty, and the betrayal of America’s social compact by leaders who seem determined to undermine our ethics and betray our trust. But just naming these evils for what they are is the first step to creating a community of resistance and right...

Episode 40 is a dive into the extraordinary world of Climate Choirs, as Warren interviews Chris Hutchings of the UK-based clearinghouse Choirs For Climate. Hear and watch choral singing on environmental themes, including many selections of Hutchings' own music as well as performance excerpts from the 1000-singer mega-concert presented in Finland in 2024 by Choirs For Ecocide Law. For more info...

Episode 39 of Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet is about honoring the rebirth of springtime, the workers who bring life to the community, and the elders who have held strong to the harmony of the planet despite centuries of opposition and pollution. Building on the mandate of April’s Earth Day, now is the time to put those good ideas into action, and move forward together to bring peace and justice to a...

Episode 38 does a deep dive into the back-story of American environmentalism, tracing the roots of the movement back two centuries to the emergence of industrialization in the early 1800s.  Warren Senders interviews historian Chad Montrie (University of Massachusetts, Lowell) about his work linking labor and environmental causes, with a huge list of song selections dating back to 1837. Music &...

Episode 35 of Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet is about working together, in communities both small and large, to overcome the multiple assaults on humanity we all experience now – the rise of fascism, the chaos of pointless wars, the degradation of the climate, propelled by corporate greed and political denial. It’s a formidable array of foes we face, but if we keep our eyes on the prize and work as a...

Episode 36 introduces two skilled and passionate composers, Kris Davis and Sumi Tonooka.  Both women have made artistic homes for themselves in the jazz tradition, and both often venture into other realms and genres with great assurance.  Although they've never met each other, their recent works are complementary, and this episode presents them side by side. Composer and pianist Kris Davis enc...

Episode 35 of Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet is all about holding on in the face of the oppressive forces confronting us. Holding on while we resist the violence and injustice – racial injustice, climate injustice, social injustice –with hope. And with song. Now, as in the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s, music is a way to bond and unify us in whatever acts of peaceful resistance we can muster. No...

Episode 34 — “Lunar New Year, with Rebecca Boyle” Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet is going to the Moon!  We celebrate the Lunar New Year with a special all-things-moon episode built around a full-length interview with science writer Rebecca Boyle, whose book, “Our Moon” was a New York Times bestseller in 2024.  We learn about how the moon helped make Earth what it is, and about its influence on our cl...

Episode 33 of Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet strikes a somber note to the chaos unfolding in our streets – violence led by agents of destruction wearing ICE uniforms. These are dark times in our country, around which we hope music can shed some light, echo what’s in our hearts, generate a little catharsis, and maybe even light a spark of resistance.

Episode 31 of Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet meets the New Year with new resolve to inspire all our listeners to do something healing for our planet. It can be making “good trouble,” as John Lewis once told us; it can be raising awareness with song; it can be coming together in community. Or simply being a caring person to those around you. We dedicate this episode to the future.

Episode 31 of Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet meets the New Year with new resolve to inspire all our listeners to do something healing for our planet. It can be making “good trouble,” as John Lewis once told us; it can be raising awareness with song; it can be coming together in community. Or simply being a caring person to those around you. We dedicate this episode to thefuture.

Episode 30 (Season 2) is a profile of the legendary activist collective The Church of Stop Shopping, led by Reverend Billy (William Talen) and Savitri D. Beginning with anti-consumerist actions in New York's Times Square in the 1990s, the church grew into a powerful performing force, with infectious gospel grooves, dozens of voices in harmony, and Reverend Billy's heartfelt, eloquent anti-...

Episode 29 of  Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet  enters the holiday season with songs and talk about coming together to make things better. Whether it’s finding peace in sharing voices musically, even in the midst of war; of joining hands to combat social injustice; of convening world leaders to confront climate change; or just helping each other through the dark times of recent decades. We enjoin you...

Episode 27 of  Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet  starts out with a song about ordinary Americans banding together this month to celebrate  No Kings Day . But most of the show will be focused on the disparity between the obvious importance of food and farming, to the struggles that farmers have faced every day for over a century – from sharecroppers to struggling family farms, to the plight and heroism...

Episode 26 profiles the Climate Music Project, a San Francisco-based team that brings together scientists, musicians, and graphic artists to create new ways to communicate climate science.  The CMP's innovative multi-media presentations offer hard data with an emotional score and compelling visuals to transform audience members' personal engagement with climate change.  We feature intervie...

Episode 25 is a mixed bag of tunes, starting out with Pay Attention by Joyce Johnson Rouse, singing with her group, Earth Mama. It’s a simple – even childlike – doo-wop kind of song that asks us to pay attention to the earth, and all the wonderful things it gives us.  But it also makes clear our responsibility to keep it clean and whole. Building on Earth Mama’s insistence to take responsibility f...

Episode 24 — "Old and New Sunlight"When we remember that fossil fuels are simply the sunlight that fell on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago, it changes our perspective on energy use.  It's ALL solar power; the only difference is whether it's old or new.  All these forms of energy have their own music, and this episode of "Cool Tunes For A Hot Planet" brings toget...

Airing September 1 is a special edition of  Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet  - it's our one year anniversary. We're offering an expanded show this time, with each of our producers looking back on what we've accomplished, and presenting a variety of music videos that stand out as representative of the year gone by. Some of the songs are reprises from earlier episodes, others are new. And fo...