UPDATED 11/14 - I’m not in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for this year’s climate negotiations for a variety of reasons. But I’m tracking issues there and have done my COP time, reporting on the ground (or afar) on most of these conferences of the parties to the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change.
On Friday 11/11, I hosted a live #SustainWhat chat on the latest news. Viewing links are here. I’d love to field your questions about this diplomatic and geopolitical climate tussle in the meantime. We discussed moves related to methane, the latest on the “loss and damage” tussle, and much more with guests including journalists and experts on scene.
Watch right here on YouTube and offer questions and comments below.
You have talked about this as well, Andy, but I really think this global climate action movement needs an anthem. Is there anything out there yet as impactful as this amazing choir singing this incredible song? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AjkUyX0rVw. Music can make a difference. Where is the climate change music?
I haven’t heard one song that captures the complex sweep of the climate challenge but love a variety of tunes that essentially surround this issue. One of my favorites is Steve Forbert’s ‘Good Planets are Hard to Find” https://youtu.be/CGz1mfkoI2E 1/
Another is Vince Bell’s tune “Local Charm” (Is it hot enough for you... yet?) I have loved playing with Vince, including on this song here: https://youtu.be/mUerCkucIzk 2/
Lyn Horton, an artist, offered these thoughts by email, built around a line she saw in the New York Times Climate Forward newsletter:
Bitter history has punctuated the talks. “We were the ones whose blood, sweat and tears financed the industrial revolution,” Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, said, pointedly referring to the legacy of slavery and imperialism. “Are we now to face double jeopardy by having to pay the cost as a result of those greenhouse gases from the industrial revolution? That is fundamentally unfair.”
~
And to that and so many similar statements, I respond:
Why can't people just see the shape we are in? And meditate on the mistakes and injustices rather than inhibiting the process of solving the HUGE problems, which, intrinsically, do NOT have any opinion on what history has passed. The OPINION is being embodied in the tragic circumstances we are in. We are paying for history right now. There is no going back and fixing history.
You have talked about this as well, Andy, but I really think this global climate action movement needs an anthem. Is there anything out there yet as impactful as this amazing choir singing this incredible song? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AjkUyX0rVw. Music can make a difference. Where is the climate change music?
I haven’t heard one song that captures the complex sweep of the climate challenge but love a variety of tunes that essentially surround this issue. One of my favorites is Steve Forbert’s ‘Good Planets are Hard to Find” https://youtu.be/CGz1mfkoI2E 1/
Another is Vince Bell’s tune “Local Charm” (Is it hot enough for you... yet?) I have loved playing with Vince, including on this song here: https://youtu.be/mUerCkucIzk 2/
And I did write my own climate anthem long ago, although it’s kind of a fossil fuel love song... http://j.mp/libcarb
Maybe I’ll post your query as a way to catch up with what else is out there! Thanks again.
Lyn Horton, an artist, offered these thoughts by email, built around a line she saw in the New York Times Climate Forward newsletter:
Bitter history has punctuated the talks. “We were the ones whose blood, sweat and tears financed the industrial revolution,” Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, said, pointedly referring to the legacy of slavery and imperialism. “Are we now to face double jeopardy by having to pay the cost as a result of those greenhouse gases from the industrial revolution? That is fundamentally unfair.”
~
And to that and so many similar statements, I respond:
Why can't people just see the shape we are in? And meditate on the mistakes and injustices rather than inhibiting the process of solving the HUGE problems, which, intrinsically, do NOT have any opinion on what history has passed. The OPINION is being embodied in the tragic circumstances we are in. We are paying for history right now. There is no going back and fixing history.
Lyn Horton
https://lynhorton.net/