"Peace Notes" Series: Woodwind Symphony: The Musical Peacebuilding of Trees (A Path to Ottawa Event)

Oct 1, 2025 | Environmental Peacebuilding Association's Arts Initiative
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As part of the Path to Ottawa series, join the Environmental Peacebuilding Association's Arts Initiative for a series of co-learning sessions about the intersections between environmental peacebuilding, climate justice, and ecological education -- and how music can be a tool and partner in related activism.

Each session will include informal teaching, art sharing, and collaborative brainstorming-- session topics and registration links will be shared in subsequent event postings.

No prior knowledge is necessary, participants can join for just one session or the entire series, and there is no expectation of follow-up: All are welcome to join the discussion!This virtual event will be held on October 1st at 12:00 noon EST / 6:00 pm CET.

Session Specifics: Woodwind Symphony: The Musical Peacebuilding of TreesFor millennia, trees have been an embodied part of music-making: used by ancient ancestors in early drums, shaped by contemporary luthiers into electric guitars.Beyond the harvest and use of their wood and resin in instruments, living forest ecosystems make plenty of sound themselves, especially as wind interacts with leaves and branches. Individual trees also produce ultrasonic noises, as water moves around their incredibly complex roots, trunk, and boughs.But throughout much of the world, trees' natural symphony is being drowned out by the clamour of deforestation, resource exploitation, and guerrilla armed conflict. This session of "Peace Notes" will highlight a variety of musical peacebuilding initiatives working to develop legal personhood for trees; protect forest ecosystems and the Indigenous communities who live with them; and raise awareness about the critical importance of conflict-sensitive conservation.

Registration available here.