Today (September 22), a large swath of huge names in music (and the world of celebrities) are beginning a new push to make a statement about climate change to Congress. People like Dave Matthews, Billie Eilish, Jon Batiste, and others are making a statement for the U.S. legislative body to “Build Back Better.”
Videos by American Songwriter
These famous folks will be posting graphics on social media of extreme weather conditions, along with the hashtags #CodeRedClimate and #CodeRedCongress.
Major musical names participating in the movement include Maroon 5, Finneas, Radiohead, Chuck D, Pearl Jam, Brittany Howard, Big Red Machine, Foo Fighters, Bonnie Raitt, AJR, Stephen Marley, Damian Marley, Huey Lewis and The News, Joan Baez, Wilco, Lindsey Buckingham, Carole King, Michael Franti, Melissa Ethridge, Kurtis Blow, Guster, Bright Eyes, Fleet Foxes, MGMT, The National, The Head and The Heart, and many others.
Notable celebrities include Leonardo DiCaprio, Amy Schumer, Deepak Chopra, Jane Fonda, Mark Ruffalo, and more.
Dave Matthews said in a press release for the action, “The climate crisis is by far the greatest threat to our future – and we’re already living with the effects of it now. The world is watching and looking to the United States to make a strong commitment to protecting communities and wildlife from threats posed by this crisis that is spiraling out of control. We need a President who will be a leader on the world’s climate stage, and Congress has the power to give the President those tools.”
Brittany Howard added, “On tour, I’ve been able to see just how naturally beautiful this country is. We need to protect it and we need to protect us. We must save ourselves from harmful air pollution in our cities, from poisoning our rivers and drinking water, and move towards healing this great planet and each other.”
“This is our moment to be bigger than the climate crisis we face,” offered Adam Gardner, Co-Director of environmental nonprofit REVERB and guitarist for Guster. “Together, musicians and millions of their fans are building a movement to right past wrongs and move towards a cleaner, safer future for every community. We need Congress to step up and meet the moment with bold climate action and funding that will determine our future for generations to come.”
Adam Met of pop trio, AJR, said, “The time was yesterday. We missed it. That’s the truth. Our second best option is today. The Build Back Better bill is our ‘one small step’ moment. Without that moment we would have missed over 50 years of space exploration. Without this bill, we will miss every climate target, making way for devastating fires, storms, and heatwaves beyond anything we have seen so far. This is nothing short of an emergency.”
Congress plans to vote soon on the bill. Call your representatives to get the country to 80% pollution-free electricity by 2030, while providing major tax incentives for solar, wind, energy efficiency, a smart grid, electric cars, charging stations, geothermal, and batteries, while cutting subsidies for fossil fuels.
For more information, visit Code Red Congress here.
