Free Thinking

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Free Thinking: Sound, conflict and central heating

Sound, conflict and central heating

BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Sound, conflict and central heating

Matthew Sweet finds out how extreme temperatures changed Erland Cooper's music

New Generation Thinkers Sarah Jilani and Sam Johnson-Schlee, composer Erland Cooper and science writer Gaia Vince discuss the impact of changing temperatures.

Recordings in sub-zero temperatures and the hottest day on record have fed into the sound of Erland Cooper's latest composition. Ahead of a performance at the Barbican Centre, he discusses the way his Folded Landscape piece thaws through seven movements.

New Generation Thinker Sam Johnson-Schlee is researching the social history of central heating, how its changed what we do in the home, and why climate change and global geopolitics are leading to questions about its' future. 

 Sarah Jilani has suggested reading for the Nigerian take on the impact of the oil industry, which has produced a new style of literature 'Petropoetry'. Examples include  Ken Saro-Wiwa’s 1995 ‘Silence Would Be Treason’, written in prison, Tanure Ojaide’s 1986 ‘Labyrinths of the Delta’  and Nnimmo Bassey’s 1999 ‘We Thought It Was Oil, But It Was Blood’.

And in her new book 'Nomad Century' science writer Gaia Vince looks at how global temperature changes are raising the prospect of mass migration in response to climate change .

 Matthew Sweet presents.

Producer: Julian Siddle 

Folded Landscapes by Erland Cooper is released as an album in May and performed with the Scottish Ensemble at the Barbican Centre from May 11th-13th 
Sam Johnson-Schlee is a 2023 New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to put research on the radio. He teaches at London South Bank University and has written a book called Living Rooms
Dr Sarah Jilani is also on the scheme. She teaches at City University London
You can find out about books and articles from science writer Gaia Vince at  https://wanderinggaia.com/about-me/

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Free Thinking

Sound, conflict and central heating

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