We were so excited this weekend to receive a special email in our inbox from a friend, musician and activist Joe Reilly from Detroit, MI. In Joe's own words, "I write songs and create music for the benefit of all beings, empowering listeners to become actively engaged in their communities and raising their consciousness with messages of social and environmental justice. Understanding music as an expression of spirit, I write, sing, and perform in order to celebrate life and allow God, my ancestors, and love to sing through me." In the email, we found this wonderful and fitting song for 10/10/10 about community building to get to 350ppm – it's even recorded as a sing-along, so project or print out the lyrics and get everyone at your event to sing along!
How Do We Get to 350?
(credits below…)
Listen:
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Lyrics:
How do we get to 350?
Lets get together and see
It starts with you and it starts with me
This is how we get to 350!
This is how we get to 350!
This how we get there!
Our earth is home to many people over 6 billion
Our sky holds carbon almost 400 Parts per million
That’s too high of an atmospheric concentration
Lets take a look at a simple math equation
We need to bring it down to at least 350
If we bring it lower that would be nifty
But if this much carbon stays in our atmosphere
Human civilization might disappear
We don’t have to be frozen in our fear
We have everything we need to change right here!
How do we get to 350?
Lets get together and see
It starts with you and it starts with me
This is how we get to 350!
This is how we get to 350!
This how we get there!
We can take collective climate action
by reducing, reusing its just subtraction
How can 390 become 350?
I’m asking all the people in the cities
The suburbs, the reservations, and the small towns
Lets start with our own two feet on the ground
We can walk instead of drive to where we need to be
We can plant more trees in our community
And garden and eat food grown in our back yard
Turn off the lights!
Please family it’s not that hard
Compost, recycle, use a little less
All we have to do is start with the word yes!
Yes, yes we can, we can change our plan
We can start right now from where we stand
And help the old folks to understand
And every young woman and every young man
How do we get to 350?
Lets get together and see
It starts with you and it starts with me
This is how we get to 350!
This is how we get to 350!
This how we get there!
All the evidence is supporting
What the scientists are reporting
To find a happy balance in this story
We need 390 minus 40
Well I was thinking more about 350
I think it would be great to get some families
Together and brainstorm about our collective decision
To change the way we’re livin’ and create our vision
350 is our home, its the safe place to be,
It is riding bikes climbing trees and playing in the leaves
350 is planting and growing gardens together
It’s just the right balance for just the right weather
It’s eating a meal with your family, invite your neighbors over for community!
Its buying local food at the Farmer's Market,
Instead of driving your car so much why don’t you park it?
It’s the way we walk together on this healing path,
It’s art, activism, science, medicine, and math
It’s being fair to people in all other nations
It’s a way to respect all of our relations
We could write a book with 350 chapters
We’ll start it with love and end it with laughter
Ha ha ha ha ha…
How do we get to 350?
Lets get together and see
It starts with you and it starts with me
This is how we get to 350!
This is how we get to 350!
This how we get there!
Right Now.
Written by Joe Reilly and Jeannine Palms
Joe Reilly-Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Electric Bass, Percussion
Kid Singers-Erna Chiu, Leila Durrie, Iris Durrie, Maya Baum Ferrise, Lily Gray-Wright, Olivia Lyle, Dani Macorkindale, Eleanor Mills, Ruthie Mills, Luisa Ponvert, Carmen Quinn, Nina Sabatini, Gary Service, Anya Svintsitskaya, Alise Telfer, Gavin Telfer, Grace S. Thomas, Alec Troutt, Andrew Vincent, Eliana Vincent, Leah White, Kaia Wolfkostin, and Kelman Wolfkostin.Recorded and Mixed by Brian Woodring at Pop Cycle Sound, Dearborn, Michigan.
Mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering, Chicago, Illinois.
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