Reuters, UK
March 23 2008

Q&A: Rocker Tankian spreads the word on social justice

Sat Mar 22, 2008 9:05pm EDT
By Cortney Harding

NEW YORK (Billboard) – A few days before the fifth anniversary of the
Iraq War, rock musician Serj Tankian is sitting in an Austin hotel
room and ruminating on the costs of the endless battle. But Tankian
isn’t talking about dead soldiers or civilians; he’s talking about
the cost to the Middle East’s environment, an issue that few people
have raised.

"The topsoil there has been destroyed," he says, "and who knows what
kind of damage all those bombs have caused to the ecosystems in the
Middle East?"

Many bands these days are claiming the "green" label, but their
concern often starts at the merchandise table and ends at the
recycling bin. Not so for the System of a Down frontman-turned-solo
artist, who sees beyond silos and realizes that issues like electoral
reform, recognition of the Armenian genocide, poverty and the
environment are all related.

As South by Southwest, the four-day music industry conference and
party, rages below him, Tankian is serious but not humorless; clad in
jeans and a T-shirt, he fiddles with his iPhone and shows off
pictures of his dog before settling in to ponder weightier issues.
Later that night, he brings the seething, schmoozing Stubb’s crowd to
a halt when he plays three haunting acoustic tracks at a show to
celebrate the release of the "Body of War" documentary.

For Tankian, preaching about taking action is not enough. Rather than
paying lip service to green issues, he founded a Web site,
skyisover.net, to connect his fans to environmental and social
justice organizations.

He also founded a nonprofit organization, Axis of Justice, with
former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.

"The organization has grown and morphed, and we really see the
environment as being tied to social justice and human rights causes,"
Morello says. "We both realize that while people can do things on a
person-by-person basis to make the world more green, massive levers
need to be thrown to cause any real change."

Tankian is spreading his green message on the road and working with
environmental nonprofit Reverb to make sure that his current tour
leaves as small a carbon footprint as possible. With the
organization, he ensures that all the food served backstage is
organic and locally grown, that recycling bins are available
throughout the venues and that fans can buy energy credits to offset
their travel to the show. Still, Tankian recognizes that it’s not
enough.

"This is all great," he says, "but it’s not going to stop the
destruction. Right now the Earth has a fever, and based on the
accelerated rate of population growth, the way we live now is
completely unsustainable."

Q: Many artists are becoming more active in promoting green issues,
but you seem to be one of the few who actually go a step beyond and
connect environmental issues to issues of poverty and war. How do you
see the relationships between these causes?

Serj Tankian: For me, it all stems from the need to promote justice.
I called my organization Axis of Justice because I didn’t want to
focus on only one issue. The connections can be drawn because they
are present in so many places; for instance, poor urban neighborhoods
have higher asthma rates. When a city wants to build a dump or get
rid of radioactive waste, they don’t put it in the nice part of town.
Even materials that are supposed to be environmentally friendly can
be harmful to poor communities. Biodiesel, for example, uses up
farmland that could otherwise be used to grow food for starving
people.

Q: How did you first get involved in green issues?

Tankian: I’ve been a supporter of Greenpeace and the Sierra Club for
years. I have a place in New Zealand, and I was really impressed with
a Greenpeace action that took place down there recently. Greenpeace
folks boarded a Japanese whaling ship to try to shut it down, and in
the midst of the conflict, both ships ran out of fuel. When a rescue
ship came, the Greenpeace people tried to disconnect the fuel lines
to the whaling ship, even though it meant they’d be stuck as well. It
was kind of crazy, but sometimes you have to be ballsy and put
yourself out.

Q: This is all great, but I’m wondering how you justify being part of
an industry that produces so much waste. You’ve sold more than 10
million CDs, and many of those were in plastic containers that had to
be shipped to stores.

Tankian: Basically, we’re all hypocrites unless we go out and live
off the land. That way of living is a model for me, because I think
those people are clued in about climate change and the way we’re
going to have to alter our lives. I spend a lot of the record talking
about the end of civilization, and I don’t mean an apocalypse. I
think that we are going to have to come to terms with the fact that
the way we live now will not exist in 50 years, period.

Q: Along those same lines, you have been touring for this record, and
while you have carbon offset programs in place, you are still using a
lot of resources and putting a lot of goods out there. How do you
reconcile that with your belief system?

Tankian: Again, I realize I am a hypocrite by going on the road and
doing this. I’ve had an idea for a long time, which might sound a
little crazy, but I really want to look into holographic touring. I
think we could reduce our need to travel if we could project
ourselves into meetings and concerts. We have the technology, and
we’re not using it right now.

For instance, I have a studio next to my house and a live performance
room in the studio. I could broadcast a show in real time and could
interact with the audience as if we were in the same room. After all,
it’s not like the audience can touch me, anyway. (laughs) It would
open up a whole new world for touring — shows wouldn’t have to be
limited to bars or clubs. There would be no travel costs, so bands
with very little money could play shows, and tickets would cost less.

Q: Well, even though that is still in the future, at least bands
right now are starting to become more conscious. Do you worry,
though, that being green might just be another trend for musicians
and will be forgotten in a few years? After all, how many people do
you hear still talking about Tibet?

Tankian: I’m not a big trend follower, so I don’t know if this is
just another blip. I think that with the ice caps melting and
everything changing, bands and everyone else on the planet won’t have
much of a choice about becoming green. I look at a place like New
Zealand, which is ecologically one of the most progressive places on
Earth. People down there are unconsciously conscious — they don’t
get self-congratulatory when they recycle, they just do it as a way
of life. I think we need more education to get us to that place.

Q: While bands are also becoming greener, they seem to be less
interested in other issues, like electoral politics. Would you agree
with that?

Tankian: I think a lot of bands are coming out for this election,
many more than the previous few. Howard Dean had some good support
and momentum in 2004, but it collapsed quickly. I’m an Obama fan, but
I have to say I was disappointed when I found out he wanted to expand
the defense budget. Still, he has done a good job getting younger
people invested in the process and teaching them about the way party
politics work.

Q: You’ve used your position as a popular musician to spread the word
about a number of causes. Have you gotten any backlash or flack from
your fans?

Tankian: I wrote an essay called "Understanding Oil" after 9/11 that
led to me being called a traitor and stations dropping our songs. The
sad thing is, now that the war has been on for five years, people are
coming up to me and telling me I was right.

Q: You just performed at a concert for the antiwar movie "Body of
War" and have a song on the soundtrack. What other musical plans do
you have for the near future?

Tankian: I’m going to continue touring behind the new record, and I’m
also working on some music for film. I might be working on a score
for a theatrical production, too. My next record will be a jazz
orchestral record; I want it to have a whole different vibe than the
last one. I want to be able to play Carnegie Hall with the new one.
I’m planning on releasing it in 2009. I never studied music; I ran a
software company before I did any of this. I’ve been lucky that I’ve
done so well and been able to make the music I want to make.