Green Concert in Indonesia

Communicating Climate Change

Indonesia is generally perceived as a nation where climate awareness is relatively low. Simply put, this is witnessed by the usual behavior of people in excessive single-use plastic products and the general absence of consciousness regarding waste sorting and advanced processes. In general, the public often fails to recognize the urgency of either reducing single-use plastic waste or sorting it properly before proceeding into the recycling stream. In essence, most people have not linked climate action to their daily routines. The people perceive that there has nothing to do with global climate change, its palpable impacts, and people’s behaviours. So that they have not yet understood that their behaviours are strongly linked to the larger climate crisis.

Climate change is generally recognized as an elite issue where practical alternatives for climate action mainly belong to the upper and middle classes. This perception is rooted in socioeconomic factors, since climate action is shaped by knowledge and socioeconomic status. For example, the green products are still the preferred choice for them, with higher disposable incomes. Thus, the emergence of financial constraints limits people from affording greener alternative products. Furthermore, the insufficient literacy about climate change affects the lower class. Conversely, the middle class is well-informed about climate change and its adverse impacts, but they still face barriers to reducing its impacts, for instance, people rely on fossil-fuel-generated grid electricity instead of investing in solar panels, which are more expensive but environmentally friendly.

Communicating Climate Change: The Crucial Element for Understanding Climate Change

Climate literacy is a determining factor for ensuring the public grasps the serious impacts of climate change and comprehends the significant mitigation measures. However, as Oomen argues in his work, “A Level Playing Field, or the Hope for Science as a Common Ground,” a significant obstacle for communicating climate change effectively is the rigidity and normativity of the academic project—meaning, the information is often pervaded by the scientific data and terminology. The scientific language turns into an ineffective mode for mass communication due to the people’s intrinsic diversities, for instance, educational background, living environment, culture, life experiences, et cetera. In other words, what works in the laboratory or journals will not simply resonate generally.  Consequently, the main challenge is not the lack of data or resources, but it is the method of dissemination. The urge to seek practical ways that are more interesting, so that people are exposed to the information about climate change, thereby empowering them to commence tangible, small-scale mitigation action. Fundamentally, the aim is to convert the complexity of science into the simplicity of climate action.

The Synchronize Fest Green: A Fascinating Approach for Climate Advocacy

The concert events are significantly recognized as a feasible strategy for the climate change campaign in Indonesia. There are a number of music festivals or concerts, which demonstrate significant concern for environmental stewardship. For instance, Synchronize Festivals, Pestapora, and Joyland, as well as artist performances, which are affiliated with IKLIM (The Indonesian Climate Communication, Arts, and Music Lab). Furthermore, the trend is not only performed by domestic-level artists, but also the international-level, such as Coldplay, who has undoubtedly integrated climate action into their global tours. These artistic stakeholders perceive that the concert setting proposes a potent and engaging medium to leverage climate change communication and circulate perception to a broad and diverse public audience.

This article explores a distinguished music festival that has persistently done well in climate advocacy since 2019, it is the Synchronize Fest Green Movement. The green movement consists of five main actions, which are designed to engage both internal stakeholders and the audience. They are Internal Change Behaviour, Bring Your Own Tumbler, Waste Management, Bike to Synchronize Fest, Warga Wargi (a term which refers to the festival’s audience) Menanam. Besides those core actions, it has also undertaken other actions in order to amplify the message of climate change.

First, Internal Change Behavior, is specifically directed at the concert organizers. They have strategically replaced lunch boxes and bottled mineral water with sustainable alternatives, such as rattan plates, and provided a water refill station. This commitment shows that the organizers are not exclusively driving the audience to participate in small-scale climate mitigation strategies, but they are actively implementing green practices in their behavior.

Second, Bring Your Own Tumbler has the ultimate goal of reducing single-use plastic waste. So that they encouraged the audience to bring their own tumbler, since they can refill at the water stations. Solely bringing their own tumbler, audiences participate in tackling plastic waste – a consistent logistical and environmental challenge. Furthermore, to enhance plastic waste reduction, the audience was also encouraged to donate the clean plastic waste, which is used for the art installation at the main entrance – transforming waste into a visual statement.

Third, Waste Management, involves third-party stakeholders specialized in processing waste. Simply by waste sorting, and further processed for organic waste into compost or fertilizer. This action presents and educates audiences about the proper methods of waste sorting and illustrates the economic benefit by creating valuable organic output.

Fourth, Bike to Synchronize Fest directly addresses the crucial need to mitigate the carbon footprint from the audience’s vehicles. Those who cycle to the venue are granted attractive incentives: free meals and exclusive access to the parking areas. So that the action not only helps in reducing the consumption of fossil fuels, but also demonstrates to the wider public that pro-climate behaviors are recognized and rewarded.

Finally, the Warga Wargi Menanam, refers to a concrete reforestation on mangrove planting in Kepulauan Seribu. This activity is funded by the audience ticket sales. Moreover, the involvement of multi-stakeholders, such as concert promoters, local environmental agencies, youth groups from Kepulauan Seribu, and organizations like Greeners, takes place in the reforestation activity

Conclusion: Turning Art into Action

Communicating climate change must reach the grassroots level, which requires more attractive and interactive forms. Leveraging the power of the arts – such as concerts, films, etc – emerges as a viable alternative for climate campaign. So that the concrete actions are generated by the belief which derived from the essential climate knowledge. Furthermore, the ultimate goal is to raise awareness and perception that climate change happens, subsequently leading to the implementation of pro-climate behaviors. No matter how small the adopted changes may seem, they will result collectively in a substantial impact on climate change.