Science-based rap about environmental concerns and hope
The idea of doing scientific rap matured slowly, and now it is time for release. The initial lyrics were written by researcher Simo Sarkki for a cultural anthropology seminar. The music was composed and performed by Joona Mikael Moilanen, and the video filmed and produced by Teemu Halmetoja.
From the scientific side, the core team also involved cultural anthropologists, an archaeologist and a music professional from the University of Sussex. The team modified the idea, lyrics, video script and overall message. None of the people involved has ever done science-based rap before. In terms of content, concern is the overriding feeling, but there is also a glimpse of hope. As the video progresses, the portrayal of environmental concerns makes way for personal choices.
“The basic message of ‘Prospects’ is environmental concern, but also hope. There is a lot of talk about loss of biodiversity and climate change. The Arctic region has also been the subject of public discussion. The verse about the Arctic brings diversity to environmental concerns. Sustainable development is as much for people as it is for nature,” says researcher Simo Sarkki from the University of Oulu.
“At the end of each of the three verses, there are ideas about what people can do to promote sustainability. In addition, the section after the beat switch represents a personal approach to environmental concerns. To reflect a personal touch, we made a video in which the camera sort of goes around with me and the viewer spends time in the city with me cycling. Actions resulting from environmental concerns can be down-to-earth and even fun,” says musician Joona Mikael Moilanen, who raps on the video.
“We thought of nice locations and filmed Joona rapping with a lot of different backgrounds, so we got a great rhythm where the places change, but the message stays the same. Creativity is important in selecting locations and exploiting their potential,” says Teemu Halmetoja, who was responsible for producing the video.
The opportunities of chance are reflected in the end result. For example, when shooting at a flea market, the team found a University of Oulu shirt, which makes an appearance in the video. The visuals make the video funny and ambiguous. However, Simo Sarkki says that the video was at first in danger of being too “crowded”.
“Of course, there are still many things there but, for example, the number of photos was greatly reduced from the original plan and banners on top of the images were left out almost completely. The newsfeed was also shortened considerably. The end result is still concise, with enough to go on, but not too much. We think the result is imaginative.”
“We also want to lead viewers to more information, and so we rely mostly on online references that are relatively easily accessible, also to people from outside science,” Sarkki emphasises.
“It’s the message that counts. The soundscape serves as a platform for conveying the message. I felt like I was making music for a film where various sounds work together to support the message. People’s different fields of expertise support each other, and we can be satisfied with the result. We are united by our imaginations,” Moilanen says, summing up the creative process.
With a researcher’s analytical approach, Sarkki notes that the scientific basis can also be seen in the final result.
“The video is transdisciplinary as a whole, combining different resources and strengths in a way that provides sufficient space for diverse creativities. According to a metaphor, multidisciplinarity is like a fruit bowl, interdisciplinarity like a fruit salad and transdisciplinarity like a smoothie. In the case of ‘Prospects’, it can be said that the end result is a smoothie that surprised us all with its freshness!”
The song and video also leave room for interpretation. In brief, the message is that everyone can help to create a more sustainable world, and everyone is needed for change. Everyone is a Prospect.
Prospects music video
Video funding: ARN (Arctic Networks)/University of Oulu
Environmental change is a topical research subject at the University of Oulu through, for example, the interdisciplinary profiling area linked to the Arctic region. Research is being carried out for example in the program of Cultural Anthropology at the university on the sustainability challenges of climate change and loss of biodiversity from the perspectives of adaptation, resilience, local knowledge and utilisation of natural resources.
Researcher Simo Sarkki, who initiated the ‘Prospects’ video project, is also examining these themes in his own research. Recent publications by Sarkki deal with, among other things, reindeer herders as right-holders rather than stakeholders, social innovation, science-policy-society interactions in environmental governance and the sustainable use of natural resources. Through his research, Sarkki seeks to respond to the sustainability challenges of our time by, for example, knowledge production that helps to promote the UN’s aim to leave no one behind from sustainable development.
References
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Picture credits
Pictures have been copied from Creative Commons www. site: https://creativecommons.org/
Verse 1: Biodiversity
"Black Hole Image Makes History" by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Coronal Mass Ejection Headed for Earth?" by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Earth from Space with Stars" by DonkeyHotey is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Sustainability poster - Fair trade" by kevin dooley is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"HOPE" by DieselDemon is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Cracked wall" by árticotropical is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Jeff Rowley Big Wave Surfer Finalist Position Big Wave World Tour BWWT Pico Alto Peru 2012" by Jeff Rowley Big Wave Surfer is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Cloudbreak Superswell Jeff Rowley by Minnie Vuong Xvolution Media" by Jeff Rowley Big Wave Surfer is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Tidal Wave at Thorpe Park" by Digislides is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"point break, rip bodhi" by rollanb is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"John Wayne / Gail Russell" by twm1340 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"'Mammuthe'." by Biblioteca Rector Machado y Nuñez is marked with CC PDM 1.0
"Maze Garden Fountain" by A Humble Perspective is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"File:London November 23 2018 (19) Extinction Rebellion Protest Tower Hill.jpg" by DAVID HOLT is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Green City" by alykat is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Lack-of-stability planet" by heiwa4126 is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"After the extinctions ... at least our kids will always have the dominoes" by woodleywonderworks is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"File:Thomas Robert Malthus. Photograph after an engraving. Wellcome V0028742.jpg" is licensed under CC BY 4.0
"Mother Earth" by DigitumDei is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"#68 A Pair of Hands - Holding Hands" by RichardBH is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"child in time" by Arjan Grendelman is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Earth Day ~ Mother Earth" by Cornelia Kopp is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Verse 2: Climate Change
"File:Permafrost thaw ponds in Hudson Bay Canada near Greenland.jpg" by Steve Jurvetson is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"NASA's Aqua Satellite Looks at Hurricane Lane in Infrared Light" by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Glaciers and Sea Level Rise" by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Die, Stormtrooper, Die" by JD Hancock is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Sea-based X-band radar @ Pearl Harbor" by rednuht is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Hard Choices" by _Matt_T_ is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"New Hubble Observations of Supernova 1987A Trace Shock Wave" by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Snow On The Windshield: Major Solar Particle Storm Smacks Earth" by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Clock Work Man" by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Drip drop, water drops from an icicle" by Lorie Shaull is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"January Man" by 0¢ is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"global warming" by the mad LOLscientist is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Big Cloud" by Editor B is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Bottled Poetry" by Lel4nd is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"BAD ROMANCE" by machechyp is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Grannies for Future: all generations participate in the global climate protest Fridays for Future, with Hashtag #Climatestrike" by verchmarco is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Greta Thunberg urges MEPs to show climate leadership" by European Parliament is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Fridays for Future 25.01.2018 Berlin" by fridaysforfuture is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"viet globe" by Hanumann is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Let's all co-exist" by Dai Lygad is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"World Peace" by Olivia Ortiz Asenita Fernandez is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"humanity. love. respect." by B.S. Wise is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"City Wire Zap" by The Wandering Angel is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Industrial ruin, Ballston Spa NY" by P_R_F is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Children demand 'ACT NOW' at United for climate global movement march in Cologne Germany" by verchmarco is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Act Now on climate change" by Matt From London is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Verse 3: Arctic
"Arctic Destroyer Arrives in Port Angeles" by Backbone Campaign is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Excavator - Open Pit Mining" by ReneS is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Iceberg" by NOAA's National Ocean Service is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Arctic Sea Ice Maximum and Minimum 2011 [Diptych]" by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Tip Up Town Houghton Lake MI_20090124_22" by Corvair Owner is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"Reindeer" by m.prinke is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"Reindeer meat" by yourbartender is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Parachutes open overhead" by Marion Doss is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"NASA image acquired August 17, 2010, the Northwest Passage almost free of ice. Original from NASA. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel." by Free Public Domain Illustrations by rawpixel is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Cultures and Land at Risk" by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Miqmaq Warrior" by AK Rockefeller is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Get your Assets out of the Tarsands" by Visible Hand is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Three Inuit men (L to R: Lucas, Bobbie and Johnnie) posing for a photograph outside, Port Burwell, Nunavut / Trois Inuits (de gauche à droite : Lucas, Bobbie et Johnnie) prennent la pose dehors pour un photographe, Port Burwell (Nunavut)" by BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Inuit sculpture" by A.M. Kuchling is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Aurora Swirl" by Emil L. is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"DSC02187 - Drum Dancer" by archer10 (Dennis) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"Arctic indigenous leaders at IMO" by imo.un is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Reindeers and children" by ugraland is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"travelling the Inuit way" by Markus Trienke is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"Inuit Children dancing" by P. León is licensed under CC BY 2.0