“Liberated Carbon” by Andy Revkin

A Very Fine Line (2013) by Andy Revkin & Friends album cover, featuring “Liberated Carbon” (from Bandcamp).

  • Andrew (Andy) Revkin, is the founding director of Columbia University’s Earth Institutes Initiative on Communication and Sustainability. He is also a well-respected environmental journalist and has spent time working for influential companies, including National Geographic and The New York Times.
  • In addition to environmental journalism, Revkin writes and performs music pertaining to climate and the environment. In 2013, Revkin released the song “Liberated Carbon,” in which he analyzed the relationship between humans and climate, particularly the use of fossil fuels.
  • You can listen and find lyrics to the song here and watch a video performance here.

How is this related to climate change?

  • Revkin performed “Liberated Carbon”  at the ScienceOnline Climate conference in 2013, in addition to speaking about the connection between climate change and the internet. This live performance of “Liberated Carbon,” at a conference attended by renowned  environmental scientists, journalists, and advocates,  illustrated the value of the song’s entertaining and stimulating approach in   serious conversations about climate.
  • “Liberated Carbon” references the impacts of carbon emissions, from the way we use fossil fuels in our daily life to their effects on global climate:

“Liberated carbon, it’ll spin your wheels. 

Liberated carbon, it’ll nuke your meals. 

Liberated carbon, it’ll turn your night to day. 

Come on and liberate some carbon, babe, it’s the American way.”

  • The use of “liberation” in the song has a dual meaning. Humans are “liberating” carbon  by burning fossil fuels for  energy. This process  releases carbon dioxide, which is a powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gasses trap and retain heat within our atmosphere, resulting in global temperature and climate changes.  “Liberation” also refers to  the quick solutions that the  ease  of fossil fuel use  brings to accomplishing everyday tasks,  such as heating our meals and powering our vehicles.
  • In addition to contributing towards the increase in global temperature, obtaining and using fossil fuels lead to air and water pollution. Revkin compares the use of fossil fuels to a cycle in which humanity “solves” the problems caused by fossil fuel use with fossil fuel based engineering. Furthermore, people tend to  pay attention to the issues that personally affect them and can be “fixed” with nonrenewable energy, despite the impact  that fossil fuel use has on global climate.

 

Graph displaying various nations’ CO2 emissions per capita between 1980 and 2004 (from Mongabay, year).

  • In a New York Times article titled “Liberated carbon, It’ll Turn your night to day,” written by Revkin in 2013, a graph displaying the amount of CO2 emitted per person by various nations in the years 1980, 1990, and 2004 was referenced in his explanation of “Liberated Carbon” (image above).

    • In this comparison, The United States had  the largest per capita  carbon emissions, and Revkin’s song takes the point of view of an American citizen reflecting on the effect of fossil fuel use  on the American country and way of life. The song also mentions American troops invading the Middle East, who the United States  depend on for the supply of fossil fuels l. Liberating carbon is, as Revkin emphasizes  in the song’s chorus, “the American way.”

References and additional resources