“I’m in ClimateKeys to raise awareness of how urgent it is that the catastrophic effects of global warming are addressed now, before it is too late. The evidence is undeniable; the consequences have already been seen. The poorest people are suffering; the richest have the power to do something about it. The rest of us need to choose – do nothing, or make the difference. I want to add my voice to the pressure on politicians to keep a promise (not to do anything extra, note, just to do what they said they would do), and I am aware that individual changes do matter. The alternative to me making a change in my behaviour is me not making that change, and that’s something I can’t live with in good conscience. I want to put on a concert at a primary school because it is our children who will be affected most by the decisions that are made today. They need to be awakened to the emergency and to join the movement. How many children can the authorities lock up for demanding a future? I am honoured to be allowed to perform at the school where I taught music for many years, where three of my children enjoyed a happy and loving place and where I found my way.” (layman human)
“Talking about our feelings is important for our mental health. Talking about climate change is important for our planet’s health. More people now are talking about the state of the oceans and waste, but are people talking about the climate emergency? The overwhelming feelings it can trigger can lead to disavowal, rationalising or denial, so people need support to process their feelings, learn together and take action. Bridget founded Climate Museum UK to offer this support. It is an emerging mobile museum creatively stirring responses to the climate and ecological emergency. This will be an interactive talk trying out one of the Climate Museum’s activities, inviting the audience to identify the different feelings they have about climate change. It will visualise these feelings in terms of colours and words, and provide ‘data’ about the emotional temperature of the people in the room.” (Bridget McKenzie, Climate Museum UK)
PROGRAMME
Part One
Apple Tree Seed Song: a song about nature and belonging, written with children at the school 9 years ago.
Butterfly: life is an illusion etc. But act as though it isn’t.
New Year’s Song: featuring my daughter Myrtle, an ex-pupil of the school, on trumpet. And a nod to Robert Burns.
Turn Green or Die: a song about Climate Change. Many lyrics nicked from New Internationalist’s inspirational pocket book, “Green Action.”
Hello, my Name is Whatever your Name is: when I wrote it, it was supposed to be the school’s anthem. But it took on a life of its own.
Part Two
Interactive game with Bridget McKenzie, Climate Museum UK
Part Three
The Other Children: about a 9 year old girl going through the landfill to find enough scraps of metal to sell to buy a bowl of rice. The school won the Westfield Schools’ Choirs competition with a set featuring this song. I still smile about it.
Move to Titan: when the sun supernovas in 4 billion years we can move to Titan. If we’re still around.
Biographies
LAYMAN HUMAN: I have been in this body for 47 years. It began in Germany, and I have been living in London for 26 years now. I don’t know very much, except that love is true. The rest is only bullshit we believe. I sing songs about the stuff I have experienced or maybe made up, and I arrange them on piano after a fashion.
BRIDGET MCKENZIE is an independent researcher, consultant and creative curator as director of Flow Associates. She founded Flow in 2006, after 14 years’ managing cultural learning programmes, including Education Officer for Tate and Head of Learning at the British Library. She is a trustee for ONCA Gallery, advisor for Culture Unstained and for the Happy Museum Project. As a Creative Climate Leader, she is founding a Climate Museum for the UK.
