The power of music in saving the climate
Photo: ActionAid
As the Climate caravan of hope arrived in Kampala it was received with a lot of excitement. There were a number of activities that we organized to create awareness about climate from Kabale, Mbrara as it entered the capital of Uganda on 12th Nov 2011.
One of the events carried out was the climate justice concert. This was mainly to attract the attention of young people and educate them about climate change as they were being entertained. This concert was graced by the Vice President of the Republic of Uganda who pledged his government’s support in addressing the effects of climate change.
He also promised to play his role in advancing a united African position at the COP17 climate meeting in Durban, South Africa.
With him were a number of renowned artists to echo the key messages of the caravan of hope. The Vice President then made his remarks and waved off the Ugandan team to join in the caravan. It then started to rain heavily and the crowed scattered away to find shelter. At this point, I became worried, as the programme was only getting started and there were many musicians yet to perform.
But, I had under estimated the power of music!
One by one, the musicians walked in amidst cheers from the crowd that once again assembled in front of the stage with excitement.
There could not have been a better time than this to tell the hundreds of young people, who shouted with excitement on seeing their favorite musicians, what they could do to address the changing climate.
As Jackie’s famous,” Am not a Gold digger” became, “Am not a climate degrader, agabo” (I say no to climate degradation). Katatumba’s “lets go green keep it green” was all over the lips of the youthful crowd before the Ghetto President H E Bobi Wine hit the stage, breaking every now and then to remind the crowd to enjoy as they protected the environment.
I had a great time and found myself right next to the stage forgetting it was even raining. The concert was both entertaining and educational.
Soon, all was done and it was time to go home.
But as I later found out, as us young people enjoyed the music while dancing in the rain that night, the rain had caused much hardship for the residents of Lumili Village.
The long day’s rain had left many homeless and destroyed their crops.
It just goes to show that sometimes when we are enjoying ourselves we forget the suffering of others.
The industrialized countries need to remember this and pay what is due to the countries whose emission is insignificant in influencing the changes we see in the climate today, but who are suffering the worst effects of climate change already
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