451 (2021) – Yasha Hoffman (United States)

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Since 1830, humans have released 450.98 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from fossil-fuel burning, cement manufacture, and gas flaring.* In this piece, every twenty seconds that elapses represents a decade of time, and each pitch that sounds represents 100 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. Our journey begins in 1830, with the 262 million tons of emissions created during that decade represented by 2 notes, and ends with the 2010s, with 97.432 billion tons represented by 974 notes.

It’s a coincidence that the emissions we have produced since 1830 happen to equal 451 billion tons, the figure after which Ray Bradbury titled his 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, which he claims is “the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns…” How many emissions must we produce for the same to happen to our Earth?

*Data from the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions. Their data set includes data up until 2014; I have projected data from 2014-2019 according to the pattern of previous data.

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Ann adds: This concept is really cool in terms of the representation. Also depressing as you hear the very long sustained notes grow ever faster, ever frenetic, becoming palmfuls of chaotic clusters. Some passages remind me of Beethoven (note: Yasha was my piano student years ago, maybe this is in memory of Rage Over a Lost Penny ?!) and some passages remind me of Stravinsky’s Petrushka.

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