New Bay Area music venture puts focus on climate change awareness
SAN FRANCISCO -- On April 2, a blockbuster concert took place at The Fillmore on Geary Street in San Francisco.
On stage: Green Day. The four-time Grammy Award winners can sell-out huge stadiums in the blink of an eye, but here they were playing in front of a rapturous crowd at a much smaller, more intimate venue.
The East Bay group played two entire albums -- the newly released "Saviors" as well as their masterpiece "American Idiot."
The event was co-hosted by the United Nations Human Rights Office and the prestigious Recording Academy.
It was organized by the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance.
"Music is really a unique tool in our toolbox," said David Clark, founder and CEO of the alliance.
Clark told KPIX that the Fillmore event was the global kickoff to a new concert venture known as the "Mini Global Climate Concerts." Proceeds will go to United Nations Human Rights Climate justice initiatives as well as the Right Now Climate Fund at MusiCares which helps musicians affected by climate change.
"Green Day, they've been promoting, you know, social and environmental issues for decades so they were our first choice and we're grateful they agreed to perform. And it was amazing!" Clark said.
A major goal is to reframe climate change as a human-rights crisis. A United Nations report on the topic is a sobering wakeup call about the human-caused warming of the planet.
"It's an existential threat. It's actually hard for people to wrap their heads around it which is why you need to communicate in languages that they understand like art and music," Clark explained.
"If we don't take care of each other, it's going to be pretty dismal," remarked three-time Grammy Award winner Xavier Dphprepaulezz who goes by the stage name "Fantastic Negrito." He applauds the alliance and its efforts.
"If we don't take care of our home, our planet and get really concerned about the things that are happening here, it's going to be a miserable place to live," the Oakland musician said.
Dphprepaulezz's song Rolling Through California was sparked by the state's devastating 2021 wildfire season which reports indicate was stoked by climate change.
He sees music as an instrument of change.
"You want to try to motivate people to do something, to take action because doing nothing is just not an option," he said.
Dphprepaulezz says there are lots of vulnerable communities in our own backyard and that many families are overwhelmed with the day-to-day struggles of surviving and raising their kids. He told KPIX that, when communities are not aware of issues like climate change, others can take advantage of you and victimize you. He feels strongly about spreading the word and the awareness of climate change in these communities so better choices can be made.
"The neighborhoods that I come from are overlooked and the conversation isn't even being had about climate change and the environment," Dphprepaulezz said.
Storefront Records (which Dphprepaulezz owns) is co-hosting an Earth Day celebration on April 21 at Thrive City near Chase Center.
"We have to make the right investments in those people in those communities," he said.
WEBLINKS
Right Here, Right Now New Global Climate Alliance
United Nations report on Climate Change and Human Rights (PDF)