Sing the Resolution Song for Earth Day

Back in 2019, I met up with some people from Extinction Rebellion. We sat in a bar on The Cut near Waterloo station in London and talked about this exciting new global movement for change. I remember nervously saying, “Imagine people in every country in the world singing the same song. Maybe because of my background in theatre, I think that the stories we tell through art, music, politics and the media have the power to change our world. That night, we talked about the history of protest songs, had a few drinks and decided to give it a go. 

From there, I met with friends at Decca and at WWF International, and before we knew it, a song was written, a brilliant song created in a workshop with Violet Skies, Holly Fletcher and Robin Howl. They graciously waived all their rights to the Resolution Song, making the theory of global participation a possibility. 

Song in hand, I assembled a team of tenacious volunteers and we started reaching out to musicians across the world to make their own versions of the song. The idea was stolen from the folk tradition; every time someone sang the song in a new place, it took on a new language, a new style, a new identity. 

We launched the project at the UN Climate Conference in December 2019 and then, well, we all know what happened next. Over the last two years we have been utterly gobsmacked by the range of phenomenal musicians and activists who have come together representing all corners of the globe.  

 From a girl band in Benin to a drill group in Brazzaville, Congo to the Kuikuro people in the Amazon; a
Mongolian nomadic herder, the Georgian State Opera Chorus, panpipers from the Solomon Islands and refugees from Eritrea, Iran and Syria. The song has been sung on the frontlines of climate change in San Andrés, Mozambique, the Marshall Islands, the Antarctic, Haiti and The Maldives; places that will cease to exist in the next 20 years if we don’t act now. 

Here in the UK the NHS Choir has joined Resolution, along with the sensational Choir With No Name. These guys make music with people who have lived experience of homelessness all over the UK. Their version of the song is uplifting and really wonderful. 

Choir With No Name performer Ess said, “I have always cared for the environment and think it is great that awareness is spreading of how we can all make small changes in our lives, that collectively can add up to a massive change for good, to help protect the planet, for future generations to come.” 

In Sierra Leone, a group of street kids sing the song, as well as people from slums in Uganda, Kenya and the brilliant Recycled Orchestra from Paraguay, who make instruments from rubbish and teach music to children from Cateura (the poorest slums in Latin America). Their mission is incredibly inspiring, and I particularly love this quote from the founder Favio Chavez: “The world sends us garbage, we send back music.” 

Climate Change is deeply intertwined with global patterns of inequality. Both in its cause and effect. Resolution is a platform for all voices. To borrow a phrase from WWF International, “We are the first generation to know that we are destroying our planet and the last that can do anything about it.” 

Resolution represents hope. It is an expression of global unity and a celebration of diversity. Resolution is a living, breathing example of the kind of global collaboration that we need to solve the planetary emergency. People from countries the world over are sharing their amazing versions of the Resolution Song this Earth Day. We have teamed up with the formidable Music Declares Emergency to spread the word. Under the hashtags #PLANETRESOLUTION and  #NOMUSICONADEADPLANET we will be sharing this message of hope, and celebrating the humanity that binds us together wherever we stand on Earth. 

Resolution keeps growing and growing and growing. We had support from stars like Annie Lennox, Emma Thompson and KT Tunstall in our earlier stages. This month we heard from none other than Sir Paul McCartney, who said, “I totally support Resolution and its aims for the future of our glorious planet.” 

We are all standing with the world on our shoulders. Join the Resolution! 

Share versions of the song on the Join The Resolution YouTube channel, or visit the website to find everything you need to make your own version.

This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine. If you cannot reach local your vendor, you can still click HERE to subscribe to The Big Issue today or give a gift subscription to a friend or family member. You can also purchase one-off issues from The Big Issue Shop or The Big Issue app, available now from the App Store or Google Play.