CAN YOU HEAR US YET?
Climate Live Concert featuring Barenaked Ladies, Scott Helman, The Weather Station, Dan Mangan, Lia Pappas-Kemps, Whitehorse, Leah & Peter from July Talk, Julian Taylor, Luna Li, The Lifers, Communism, Moscow Apartment and More
Saturday, April 24 streamed via Twitch (www.twitch.tv/climatelivecanada)
and Climate Live streaming webpage (www.climatelive.org/stream)
It’s 2021, the so-called “Roaring Twenties” are raging on and with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the state of the world is at an all-time low. To stay home and twiddle our thumbs has become far beyond depressing and turned into the new normal. On top of this, our planet still has a lot of other issues we need to sort out — namely global warming. Sure, we’ve been cooped up inside for the last 13 months and aren’t littering every square foot of our planet with (as much) garbage, but we still need to take action against the planet-threatening effects of climate change. Glaciers are still melting; sea levels are rising beyond comprehension and both the land and sea continue to heat up gradually. Consumerism and overconsumption of energy is still poisoning the Earth as we know it too.
These eye-opening facts have been true for decades now, but after years of inaction and having to watch the environment crumble before their very eyes, the next generation of activists have become sick of waiting and are kicking into gear. Instead of sitting back with their world leaders and watching the inevitable death of our planet, they’re taking action and enforcing pressure for change onto these lazy government officials who have continuously ignored the devastation of the ongoing climate crisis.
To help spread the word about the potentially grim future of our planet and their own organization, Fridays for Future activists — from the international youth-led climate group — will host the world’s first-ever Climate Live concert event. Along with renowned climate change activist Greta Thunberg and various musical guests, activists, scientists and adolescent spokespersons from all across the world will take part in the digital event in an attempt to open the eyes of unaware listeners to the dangers of inaction against climate change. As Thunberg once said, “to change everything, we need everyone.” Along with the 18-year-old Swede, 7.6 million students and activists took to the streets in late 2019 to demand climate action — however, leaders have still failed to act on the matter with necessary urgency.
On top of the upcoming Climate Live event, Fridays for Future leaders from each continent are in the midst of planning similar Global Climate Strike events — small-scale and large — in over 40 different countries. From Argentina and Zimbabwe, back to Canada and Japan, the organization wants to unite activists from all over to help make a change and put pressure on their respective world leaders.
Tune in on Saturday, April 24 at 8 p.m. (EDT) for Climate Live’s digital concert event, which will feature performances from artists like Barenaked Ladies, Scott Helman, The Weather Station, Dan Mangan, Lia Pappas-Kemps, Whitehorse, Leah & Peter from July Talk, Julian Taylor, Luna Li, Moscow Apartment, Braden Lam, Veronica Johnny, The Lifers, Communism, and The Wombats, among many others.
Eighteen year old Brighid Fry of the indie folk rock duo Moscow Apartment co-founded Climate Live Canada and the supporting organization Music Declares Emergency Canada.
Fry believes that “Musicians who care about the planet need to be using our platform and influence to talk about this really pressing issue that everyone should be more worried about. Canada is lagging behind almost every country in terms of reducing emissions. We need to change that. We can also push for the music industry to build back better and address the climate crisis by putting sustainability at the centre of the industry’s recovery. I’m hoping Climate Live can be a tipping point for making bold action politically necessary across our country and the world.”
The ultimate goal of Climate Live is to engage and empower audiences with live music to help enlarge the ever-expanding global movement while raising awareness of the challenges faced today by people on the “frontlines of ecological breakdown.” As detailed on their website, any international funds raised by the event will go directly to those on the frontlines of this ecological breakdown.
“Climate Live is a movement to unite people behind bold climate action with the power of music,” said a spokesperson for the event. “We marched in the millions in 2019 and 2020, lobbied our elected officials, and demanded change, but those in power refused to listen. Now, through concerts for the climate, we’re going to make enough noise to really grab their attention,” they concluded.
The Climate Live digital extravaganza can be streamed via Twitch (www.twitch.tv/climatelivecanada) or the Climate Live streaming webpage (www.climatelive.org/stream) on April 24. The highly-anticipated event will be followed by an after-party stream, which kicks off four hours later, at 12 a.m. EDT (April 25).
That’s not all though … youth climate strike activists have already planned a second Climate Live gig, which will take place later this year, on Oct. 16 with guests and speakers to be announced.
Website: https://www.climatelive.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/climatelivecanada/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClimateLiveCA