EVERY DROP M AT T E R S Along with seminars supporting students’ personal development, our Development Programme also creates opportunities to disseminate research and facilitate dialogue on global concerns, writes MTST Programme Director Claire Cockcroft. Dr Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey speaking at the ‘Every Drop Matters’ event
From rural, sub-Saharan Africa to the megacities of the world, there’s a global water crisis on the horizon. One in 10 people around the world - around 800 million - do not have access to clean water and, by 2025, half of the global population will live in countries with high water stress, raising the prospect of water wars. With sustainability a central tenet of Somerville’s strategy, we held an interdisciplinary event last October blending music, sound and film with community research projects to raise awareness about one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century: water security. Heralding a return to live events, the panel highlighted some key issues — from water scarcity and flooding caused by climate change and glacial melt, to inequality of access to safe water and coordinated management of urban water. They also tackled the intricacies of transboundary agreements and diplomacy in shared water sources. Flowing throughout the event were dramatic soundscapes, the result of some unique creative collaborations between composers, filmmakers and researchers. Alaskanborn conductor, Dr Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey, formerly a Junior Research Fellow at Somerville and Director of Research at the Oxford Conducting Institute, uses orchestral music to promote social justice and environmental sustainability. She was instrumental in a collaboration with Oxford-based band Pecq and Alice Chautard at the School of Geography, who uses photography to communicate the science around water security and climate research.
‘Every Drop Matters’ Watch on YouTube
”Through orchestral music we have an opportunity – and perhaps a responsibility – to engage with pressing social and environmental issues. Creating new compositions is one such way, and may help orchestrate behavioural change,” Dr Ponchione-Bailey explained. “Earth Flow, was composed in response to research recounting stories of climate change along the Gandiki River in Nepal. Focusing on themes of erosion, landslides and glacial melt, the music incorporates field recordings of wind, water, landslides and rivers. We hope it will get audiences reflecting on the connection between climate change and global water security, as well as their own water consumption.” A second work, Reaching Water, was inspired by stories from local communities in Ethiopia’s Awash River Basin. The piece explored the long journeys faced by many people as the climate crisis challenges their access to water: the average woman in rural Africa walks 6km daily, hauling around 18kg water. Globally, women and girls spend an estimated 200 million hours every day carrying water, time that could be invested in education or income generating activities to improve their lives.
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