Climate Action Evanston and Rubblebucket build community … – Evanston RoundTable

Music has always played a critical role in social movements, and climate change is no different. This was brought home dramatically last weekend, when the band Rubblebucket played two sold-out shows on Nov. 4 and 5 at Evanston SPACE.

The Brooklyn, New York-based band is passionate about environmental justice issues, and while on tour reached out to Climate Action Evanston to help the local organization build awareness and raise funds at their local shows.

Lest anyone think that nature worship and downright funky music don’t go together, the band features masterful deep drum grooves, virtuoso horn arrangements and dance performance to drive home their trenchant lyrics about the natural world. 

The pairing of the two groups came about thanks to Mat Hall, co-founder of ShowUp, a platform that supports activism in the music industry. The arrangement allowed Climate Action Evanston to have a table next to the band’s own merch table, which was thronged with fans before and after the show and where Climate Action members Jack Jordan, Laura Perry and Catie Lott were able to talk to attendees.

Fans came from as far away as northern Wisconsin and Alabama, but they donated to the Evanston climate cause and engaged with Climate Action Evanston members on the importance of building local climate action in their own communities.

Climate Action Evanston even became part of the show when Rubblebucket leaders Alex Toth and Kalmia Traver gave a shoutout to them from the stage and introduced board members by name.

While climate despair has a real presence in our world, especially among the young, as Climate Action Evanston Co-lead Jack Jordan observed, “Music creates hope and community. The power of music and performance is to help us imagine and bring to fruition a better world.”

Climate Watch is a series of occasional articles and essays about what climate change means for Evanston and what we’re doing locally to make a difference.