Sheryl Crow: We are working with the NRDC [National Resources Defense Council], getting information on how to take our whole farming community off the grid. There's a hill up the road that fits right in between all of our farms out here, and we hope to put a few wind towers up there, and I’m putting solar panels on the house.
And there are the little things. All of the bulbs in the house are energy-efficient, all of our farm equipment runs on biodiesel, and my cars are hybrids. We don't use hot water in the washer unless it's absolutely necessary—actually, we never use it.
Those are little things we're trying to do, but it still doesn't feel like enough. We would eventually like to be completely self-sustaining out here. I have an organic garden, and next summer we plan to be completely self-sufficient, off the grid. We want to honor the Earth and all the sustenance that she brings to us.
LW: What are some of the other environmental actions you are involved in now or that you're planning in the future?
Sheryl Crow: I'm planning to meet with [U.S. Sen.] Lamar Alexander and hope to be involved in this mountaintop mining issue that is very prevalent here in Tennessee. Right now, that's what's on my front burner, as well as trying to get our little area off the grid.
My other main concern has been trying to encourage people to tour green. We’re using a biodiesel bus now. In the past, we've purchased carbon offsets, but we are trying to figure out ways to really make it more tangible than that.
LW: What is the significance of the name Detours?
Sheryl Crow: When I was writing the songs on this record, the thing that kept coming back to me was all the different paths that we take—or that we're led onto—that take us far away from who we either wanted to be or thought we would be.
In the last six years, we have veered so far away from who we were as a nation and from our good standing in the world. We've gone to sleep at the wheel and allowed ourselves to be led into very dark places, with misinformation and fear and real deception.
Throughout your life, you make these decisions, you go into relationships that kind of lead you into a direction away from yourself, and ultimately I think those detours serve to help you find your way back. Even with my breast cancer experience, I found that experience really was a refining moment; it reminded me how I wanted my life to look from that point on.
LW: You mentioned the urgency that people are starting to feel about issues like global warming. As that urgency motivates people to take action, it is also creating pressure for potential solutions that could cause other environmental problems and may not be in our long-term best interests. For example, there is a new push for nuclear energy, even though there's still no trusted way to deal with radioactive waste. Where do we find the wisdom to make the right choices?
Sheryl Crow: It's my belief that we're not going to be able to embrace nuclear energy as a viable means [of power generation], due to the security and waste problems. Even though we've seen it succeed in places like France, [the United States] is a massive, massive country and with the [threat of] terrorist groups, it's just not a viable option.
As far as coal goes, it's basically the same problem. How do you sequester the waste from coal? Possibly use algae to counteract the carbon that goes up from coal plants? We haven't figured out how to do that yet, but I'm hoping [a solution] is not too far off in the future.
As we've seen, nothing is happening overnight. Hopefully, there are levelheaded people making decisions as far a nuclear is concerned, but I don't believe it works that fast.
LW: How do you think music and the other arts can help people address or cope with critical issues such as global warming and other serious concerns?
Sheryl Crow: The music business has really been affected by the world of finance, because people don't feel the need or the obligation to pay for music. If it comes over the airwaves, they don't have to pay, so that obviously affects how music now goes out.
It's a bit like the Wild West, you know? People are now going online to find their music and it is no longer a community experience. In the old days, people would sit around and talk about what lyrics meant, and it would incite some sort of emotion.
I don't know how much difference it makes, but I do know that there is still a need for the singer/songwriter. There are people still talking about their concerns for the future, and music has always been a very emotional experience that has helped people get through the hardest of times.
So, for me, it's a very compelling time to be an artist, and my hope is that the music will mean something to someone, somewhere.
