CLIMATE CONVERSATIONS

What do a musician/songwriter, author of a best seller and a PhD in human rights law and sustainable development have in common? They are all Adam Met. Adam is the bassist in the multi-platinum indie pop band AJR, an adjunct professor at Columbia University and author of Amplify: How to Use the Power of Connection to Engage, Take Action and Build a Better World.

Adam is a popular musician, but he’s a self-described policy wonk and founder and director of the non-profit, Planet Reimagined. “The music and entertainment industry is so good at building fan bases. All of these tactics can be applied to how we can build better social movements. So why not take the tools that are already out there and apply them to make the world a better place?

One of Adam’s favorite terms is collective effervescence. He describes it as a kind of groupthink that happens at concerts. “We actually did a big study and test to figure out, can we use concerts and collective effervescence to get people to take more climate action? And the answer is yes. On our last tour, we had about 15 percent of concert-goers take really concrete climate action. They were registering to vote. They were volunteering for local organizations.”