Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has teamed up with The 1975 to spread her message about the devastating effects of climate change.
Taking the form of a spoken word essay, the 16-year-old’s passionate speech sits atop an ambient piano track in which she demands that “It is now time for civil disobedience. It is now time to rebel”.
It echoes the statements she made to world leaders and economists in her Davros speech earlier this year, stating: “Solving the climate crisis is the greatest and most complex challenge that homo sapiens have ever faced. The main solution, however, is so simple that even a small child can understand it. We have to stop our emissions of greenhouse gases. And either we do that, or we don’t”.
“You say that nothing in life is black or white, but that is a lie. A very dangerous lie. Either we prevent a 1.5 degree of warming, or we don’t. Either we avoid setting off that irreversible chain reaction beyond human control, or we don’t. Either we chose to go on, as our civilisation, or we don’t. That is as black or white as it gets. Because there are no grey areas when it comes to survival”.
All proceeds from the track – recorded in Stockholm this June – will go to Extinction Rebellion, at Thunberg’s request.
The environmental protest group released a statement in support of the collaboration: “Music has the power to break through barriers, and right now we really need to break through some barriers if we are to face this emergency”.
Thunberg said: “I’m grateful to get the opportunity to get my message out to a broad new audience in a new way. I think it’s great that the 1975 is so strongly engaged in the climate crisis. We quickly need to get people in all branches of society to get involved. And this collaboration I think is something new”.
The self-titled track will likely be the first one on The 1975’s upcoming album, Notes On A Conditional Form, which is expected to be released on February 21 2020.
A countdown on their website has got fans excited about the possibility of a new single called People, suggesting it could be released on August 22, the evening before their headline slot at Reading and Leeds Festival over the Bank Holiday weekend.
#Peace.Love.GretaThunberg
