Ars Natura is an ambient music project that builds on false field recordings generated artificially by processed guitar which try to emulate natural spaces from imaginary geographies. All the sounds on this record were created using an electric guitar played through several effects units
Ars Natura LP / Booklet
Both physical and digital editions are available at https://tomasflorez.bandcamp.com/album/ars-natura
Click here to redeem digital download code
Northern Lights EP
The EP/poetry book Northern Lights was created in collaboration with writer Aurora Feijoo in 2020. After listening to an early version of the Northern Lights track, Feijoo created the book object that appears on the EP cover art and on the cover of the book. The track was also the inspiration for the poetry that was written for the the book and those verses, in turn, were the starting point for the creation of the Naturescapes series, an audiovisual project built on actual field recordings of natural spaces which tries to create abstract topographies. Done in collaboration with other artists, the aim of the series is to create awareness about climate change and to divulge diffetrent strategies in order to bring about positive change
Both physical and digital editions are available at https://tomasflorez.bandcamp.com/album/northern-lights
Click here to redeem digital download code
Naturescape #1
Casaño river, Arenas de Cabrales (Asturias, Spain)
Earth’s climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 11,700 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era — and of human civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives.
The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is extremely likely (greater than 95% probability) to be the result of human activity since the mid-20th century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia. Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a changing climate. The evidence for rapid climate change is compelling:
– Global Temperature Rise
– Warming Ocean
– Shrinking Ice Sheets
– Glacial Retreat
– Decreased Snow Cover
– Sea Level Rise
– Declining Arctic Sea Ice
– Extreme Events
– Ocean Acidification
In its Fifth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of 1,300 independent scientific experts from countries all over the world under the auspices of the United Nations, concluded there’s a more than 95 percent probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet. The industrial activities that our modern civilization depends upon have raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels from 280 parts per million to 414 parts per million in the last 150 years. The panel also concluded there’s a better than 95 percent probability that human-produced greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have caused much of the observed increase in Earth’s temperatures over the past 50 years.
Source: https://climate.nasa.gov/
Naturescape #2
Somonte viewpoint, Arenas de Cabrales (Asturias, Spain)
Intensive farming has already had a huge effect on biodiversity and the environment worldwide. Pesticides, which have helped boost cereal and fruit production, have also killed bees and myriad species of insects in large numbers.
Fertilisers that have improved poor soils have also had unintended harmful consequences. The largest ever maritime “dead zone” was discovered in the Gulf of Mexico in 2017 (8,776 square miles), the result of fertiliser and manure from the meat industry running off the land. Chemical fertilisers also contribute directly to climate change, through the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (almost 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide and also depletes the ozone layer), and to air pollution through ammonia.
“We need an urgent shift in both production and consumption if we’re to avert the worst consequences of climate change, including a dietary shift towards less and better meat,” says Rob Percival, head of policy at the Soil Association.
Small farmers will be key to the transition, says Ronald Vargas, soil and land officer at the FAO. Many small farmers are poor and insecure, but FAO considers investment in smallholder production “the most urgent and secure and promising means of combating hunger and malnutrition, while minimising the ecological impact of agriculture”.
There are more than 570m farms worldwide; more than 90% are run by an individual or family and rely primarily on family labour. They produce about 80% of the world’s food.
Experts say a second revolution is now needed, that will encompass not just our growing methods but consumption habits and our entire food economy. This would have to involve farmers, retailers, governments and consumers. In last century’s farming revolution, only one future was offered: industrialisation. For this century, there will be a plurality of alternatives, and combinations of new and ancient technology, and all have their place.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jan/28/can-we-ditch-intensive-farming-and-still-feed-the-world
Tomás Flórez 