"... using paper straws while the rich take 9 minute flights ..."
On flight-free threads, broken hearts and writer blocks
Hi,
(La version française se trouve plus bas.
If you can’t view this email entirely you might be able to view it here.)
How has your summer been so far? I used to love the long bright days: sleeping outdoors at night, airing hairy legs and celebrating the glorious return of tomatoes! I now find the warm season increasingly anxiety inducing. Hottest temperatures on record, droughts and unprecedented wildfires ... Everything about it is utterly and profoundly heartbreaking:
- that it is happening at all,
- that it is worse than scientists had imagined,
- that it is going keep on getting much much worse very very soon,
- that we barely noticed it when it was happening in Pakistan and India a couple of months ago (or in Africa for years)
- that, for the most part, we've not yet declared a general strike, a mass movement, or an uncompromising war on the rich, and are continuing our lives pretty much as normal!
In the middle of it all, my lil ever-broken 💚 has been granted some meaningful experiences too, including losing my phone a month ago and enjoying an ongoing luxurious phone-free life.
This summer marks the second anniversary of the newsletter. It started off, partly, as a way to share nono news with a handful of friends. Though the number of subscribers grew modestly, I found myself struggling to write about more intimate things, like tears on dance floors, the overwhelming joy of meeting my dear friends’ freshly born baby or the deep gratitude of being held by friends (and strangers!!) through the final stages of my PhD.
I’ve also been reflecting on the personal/policital shifts which took place through those last two years. But for a number of reasons … I’m having a writer’s block. Maybe these thoughts will come your way, eventually. Meanwhile, here’s a gig calendar, a gathering of tweets, a little summer library and a portrait with the softest dog.
Stay safe and send me cute animal pics,
Hugs and hugs and hugs!!
xx
nono

“Is where we are now on google maps?”
(love to Sarj for the legendary quote!)
12.08 - Tresor 31, Berlin, DE - excited about this one :) I’m closing Ohm, just after object blue, so technically Saturday morning. One for the late dancers or early risers.
23.08 - Refuge Radio, Berlin, DE - please feel free to send music at promo@gigsta.de
26.08 - b2b w/ Detroit Bureau of Sound Pop-Kultur Festival, Berlin, DE - this is part of the residency exchange with Detroit (US), where I’ll be in April-May 2023.
27.08 - Whole Festival, Berlin, DE - i’ll be hosting a panel on sustainability at 8pm on Saturday. Any particular question on your mind?
03.09 - Zeezout Festival, Amsterdam, NL - guest list open!! who’s around?
09.09 - Chantelouve Festival, Grenoble, FR - up in the mountains!
10.09 - Sarcus Festival, Tours, FR - flight-free festival, here we go :)
15.09 - Quincé, Rennes, FR - i’ll be in Rennes for a week or 2, let’s meet.
24.09 - TBA, The Hague, NL
22.10 - Fictions @ Sameheads, Berlin, DE - save the date <3
05.11 - TBA, London, UK - i’ll probably stay in the UK for some time around then and would be available for gigs in the weekends before and after.
“I cannot live peacefully without you for even a moment … I miss you terribly when you’re away … (S)he’s away, this ain’t right … I’m alone, I’m taking a … TRAIN!!!!!!!!!”
In between two pictures from the porthole
After not using social media for a couple of years, I started visiting twitter regularly again, partly because I felt - maybe wrongly?- that it was one way to get certain climate-related information. And is it a good or a bad idea, friends, I do not know.
Si à un moment vous avez chaud aujourd'hui, n'hésitez pas à faire un tour sur flightradar24.com pour admirer en direct une partie du problème.
— Charles de Lacombe (@Cha_de_L) 10:21 AM ∙ Jul 18, 2022
We don't have anything against flying.
— Stay Grounded Network (@StayGroundedNet) 5:56 PM ∙ Jul 27, 2022
We just don't like climate collapse, injustice and greenwashing bullshit. #StayGrounded
putain mais les djs au point où on en est c’est plus possible de prendre un avion par jour pour aller jouer de la deep house à la con dans un pays différent chaque jour ok? repensez vos vies
— Betty (@bettybensimon) 9:40 AM ∙ May 31, 2022
Time for a thread about people leaving their jobs to fight climate change.
— Akshat Rathi (@AkshatRathi) 7:26 PM ∙ Jul 26, 2022
If you have a related story to share, please do so in replies.
🧵
I can no longer fly around the globe for 45 min talks/seminars, and at the same time explain my sons how their future planet will look like. Below an email that I got after I explained why I am unable to speak at a conference. This gives hope,...
— Heinemann lab (@HeinemannLab) 6:14 PM ∙ Jun 27, 2022
We can lead by example!
djs complaining about cancelled flights without realising its low cost air travel that’s made their careers possible at the cost of shit wages and working conditions for travel workers. Up the strikes Tbf.
— Midland (@midlandsound) 5:33 PM ∙ Jun 19, 2022
it's not going to be easy to wean the dance music industry off its addiction to flights. but this feels like an easy win. does the culture *really* suffer if your festival experience takes place in a field in the UK instead of on a beach?
— minor science (@MinorScience) 3:52 PM ∙ Aug 1, 2022
Flying thousands of people to a music festival is as far from sustainability as the UK is from Albania, as you might have guessed.
— Stay Grounded Network (@StayGroundedNet) 6:00 PM ∙ Aug 3, 2022
.@swedishousemfia we want to speak to you about how you can help prevent societal collapse. We’re in a climate emergency history, will judge how we act at this time. You have put yourself in a position where you are responsible to the youth. Act on it. Please send us a DM
— JustStopOil (@JustStop_Oil) 5:00 PM ∙ Jun 21, 2022
Is calling on people to stop unnecessary flying in itself a form of shaming them? Doesn't that depend on the way it's done?
— Dr. Genevieve Guenther (@DoctorVive) 12:35 PM ∙ Jun 20, 2022
Tom Cruise's Challanger 300 2,692 mile (2,339 NM) flight from KIR to BGR
— Celebrity Jets (@CelebJets) 9:19 PM ∙ Aug 6, 2022
~ 1,701 gallons (6,437 liters).
~ 11,397 lbs (5,170 kg) of jet fuel used.
~ $11,377 cost of fuel.
~ 18 tons of CO2 emissions.
"don't blame individuals for climate change" is about someone putting air conditioning in their house so they don't boil alive not for celebrities emitting at the level of a small country to run errands. Unlike most people they actually have the means to make impactful changes 🤗
— Lydia Kiesling (@lydiakiesling) 4:29 PM ∙ Jul 31, 2022
Trois vols sur la même journée pour @TotalEnergies : Marseille-Anvers, Anvers-Avignon, Avignon-Paris.
— laviondebernard (@laviondebernard) 3:02 PM ∙ Aug 9, 2022
7,3 tonnes de CO2 en une journée, un très beau score ! (un Français met 8 mois)
Say what you like about Taylor Swift, 1989 will always be a special album. So what if it’s the number of times she boarded a plane in one week
— Elsa Williams (@elsalwilliams) 10:25 PM ∙ Jul 29, 2022
"...frequent flying climate influencers are correct: it’s not about their “individual action.” The main problem with their flying isn’t the CO2they're emitting, it’s the message they’re communicating, and how this message delays systems change."
— Flight Free USA 🌏 (@FlightFreeUSA) 9:39 PM ∙ Jun 27, 2022
My most liked tweet is about Kylie Jenner’s private jet. While I’m glad that people are mad at celebrities for producing large amounts of emissions, it also worries me. We need to be having deeper conversations about the climate crisis other than celebrity culture media.
— Sommer Ackerman (@lifewithsommer) 7:24 AM ∙ Jul 27, 2022
"Stopping flying isn't the only thing we can do to stop the climate crisis, but we definitely won't solve it if we continue to fly."
— Flight Free UK (@FlightFreeUK) 8:33 AM ∙ Jul 28, 2022
Nearly 5000 people have chosen to be flight free for the climate in 2022 - could you join them?
flightfree.co.uk/take_action/
kylie jenner out here picking which colour private jet she wanna take today meanwhile I gotta chug my iced coffee before my straw becomes paper mache???? explain
— ✨just vibes✨ (@MaFavRaps) 1:59 PM ∙ Jul 16, 2022
Environmentalism without class struggle is using paper straws while the rich take 9 minute flights in their private jets.
— Jason Hickel (@jasonhickel) 7:51 AM ∙ Jul 30, 2022
I grew up below the poverty line - I know that trains are inaccessible for many.
— Sean Currie (@seanpwcurrie) 2:24 PM ∙ Jul 29, 2022
But most people in Western Europe *could* afford train travel if they sacrificed certain things at their destination.
And with this thread, I'm trying to convince you that it's worth it 👀
7/
Hello from @Amtrak Jacksonville! Today I’m taking my first intercity train in Florida, the Silver Star to Tampa. Not sure how much of a thread this will be, but feel free to stick around and ride with me!
— Marcus Nelson (@marcuscnelson) 11:16 AM ∙ Jul 15, 2022
The best countries for LGBTQ+ flight-free travellers buff.ly/3nYlyhK (via @FlightFreeUK) 🌍✈️☀️ #flightfree #LGBTQIA #summer #travel
— Flint Books (@flint_books) 3:10 PM ∙ Jul 12, 2022
all the hot queers on the train looking around at each other like yeah bitch it’s us
— Delilah Friedler (@delilahtov) 9:05 PM ∙ Jun 25, 2022
Very interesting map: chronotrains-eu.vercel.app
— 𝕱𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓𝖔 (@stocastico) 9:53 AM ∙ Aug 2, 2022
If you live in a big city, you can reach more than >50% of the country you live in in less than 5 hrs of train. If you live in a smaller city, travel time vary greatly across country. 1/2
@zoemcphersonn Yeah also looking at Eurail passes, Bahn site sent me there and... this also winds up being more affordable. Time for rail-based touring!
— peterkirn (@peterkirn) 6:43 PM ∙ Jul 17, 2022
TRAIN'S HERE
— Dont Show Your Cat (@DontShowYourCat) 11:59 PM ∙ Jul 30, 2022
On the zine shelf
Abortion zines and resources
Fuck You, Don’t Pay Me - an amazing zine by hextape.wav which my friend Susanna got me. 💐
Future Ethics - finally back!! zine 2 available as audio, pdf and physical copy on their bandcamp.
Technomaterialism zine - order only in the US at the moment.
un:zine vol. 3 - with a little contribution by me, link to the great work of un:seen here.
//
Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to occasionally receive new posts.
//
Hi,
(La version française se trouve plus bas.
If you can’t view this email entirely you might be able to view it here.)
Comment se passe votre été? J’ai longtemps adoré cette saison: dormir dehors, prendre l’air avec des jambes poilues et célébrer le glorieux retour de la tomate !! Plus ça va, plus l’arrivée de la saison chaude m’angoisse. Records de températures, sécheresses et incendies sans précédent … Tout est profondément déstabilisant:
- que cela se produise,
- que c’est pire que ce que les scientifiques avaient imaginé,
- que ça va avait être bien pire, très rapidement,
- que l’on y a à peine prêté attention quand ça se passait au Pakistan et en Inde il y a quelques mois (ou en Afrique pendant des années)
- que, pour la plupart, nous n’avons pas encore déclaré une grève générale, un mouvement de masse ou une guerre sans compromis contre les riches, et continuons à vivre nos vis à peu près normalement.
Au milieu de tout cela, mon petit cœur invariablement brisé a également vécu des évènements doux, dont la perte de mon téléphone il y a un mois et l’expérience, depuis, d'une vie luxueuse sans téléphone.
Cet été marque le deuxième anniversaire de cette newsletter. Elle avait commencé, en partie, comme un moyen de partager des nouvelles de nono avec une poignée d'amis. Au fur et à mesure que le nombre d'abonnés augmentait, même modestement, j'ai de plus en plus de mal à écrire sur des choses plus intimes, comme des larmes sur la piste de danse, la joie écrasante de rencontrer le nouveau-né d’une amie proche ou la profonde gratitude de me sentir tenue par des amis (et des étrangers !!) à travers les étapes finales de ma thèse.
J'ai également réfléchi aux basculements personnels/politiques qui ont eu lieu au cours de ces deux dernières années. Mais pour un certain nombre de raisons… j'ai un blocage. Peut-être que ces pensées finiront par vous arriver. En attendant, voici un calendrier de gigs, et ci-dessus, un rassemblement de tweets et une petite bibliothèque d'été.
“Est-ce que où nous sommes est sur google maps?”
(amour à Sarj pour la citation légendaire!)
12.08 - Tresor 31, Berlin, DE - hâte à celui-là!! Je fais la clôture de Ohm, samedi au petit matin après object blue.
23.08 - Refuge Radio, Berlin, DE - j’écouterai votre musique via promo@gigsta.de
26.08 - b2b w/ Detroit Bureau of Sound Pop-Kultur Festival, Berlin, DE - dans le cadre de la résidence d’échange avec Détroit, où je serai Avril-Mai 2023.
27.08 - Whole Festival, Berlin, DE - j’animerai une table ronde sur la question écologique.
03.09 - Zeezout Festival, Amsterdam, NL - qui est là? j’ai des places.
09.09 - Chantelouve Festival, Grenoble, FR - dans la montagne !!
10.09 - Sarcus Festival, Tours, FR - festival zéro avion, c’est parti.
15.09 - Quincé, Rennes, FR - je serai à Rennes/en Bretagne pour une semaine ou 2. voyons nous !!
24.09 - TBA, The Hague, NL
22.10 - Fictions @ Sameheads, Berlin, DE - save the date <3
05.11 - TBA, London, UK - je resterai probablement en Grande-Bretagne les semaines qui précèdent et suivent cette date.
Merci pour votre lecture et à très vite !!
xx
nono