Movement building with Seth Bernard's new climate anthem!
Seth Bernard's "The Time Has Come" single release
“Seth Bernard is one of my all-time favorite songwriters. Also a ripping guitarist, he’s helped build a community of musician-activists across his native Michigan, who work on issues environmental and social. Now he’s offered up “The Time Has Come,” a climate anthem that he’s releasing to aid local climate campaigners. Here’s the chorus:We never give up,
keep showing up.
In love we trust;
the Earth loves us.”
- Environmentalist Bill McKibben in the May 12, 2021 New Yorker article "It's Time to Kick Gas." Read it here.
I dropped my new single “The Time Has Come” on May 1st. As part of the release, I’m partnering with different organizations and individuals working in the climate movement. We’re going to do some movement building!
We started on 5/1 with the Michigan Alliance for Justice in Climate (MAJIC) May Day event! MAJIC is a new formation built to support the THRIVE Act - federal legislation that will address climate change, resource our communities, and create jobs that aren't based in extraction. MAJIC centers the leadership, experience and needs of BIPOC, working class and women and femmes.
TAKE ACTION: Please call your lawmakers and ask them to support the THRIVE Act.
I serve on the Water Equity and Climate Resilience Caucus and participate in the Arts+Culture and Federal Strategy working groups with PolicyLink. It's a dream come true to help shape federal policy and build real shared power with frontline environmental justice activists from around the country in this way. This week, our priority is supporting the appointment of our colleague Radhika Fox, who has been nominated for Administrator of the EPA's Office of Water, which is really exciting. We're asking folks to please call their senators and urge them to support her nomination! Here’s Title Track’s support letter with talking points!
On May 13th, I performed as part of the Indigenous-led “Evict Enbridge” events on the Straits of Mackinac, featuring Winona LaDuke, demanding the immediate shutdown of Line 5, in accord with the Governor's Executive orders. Enbridge is a multinational fossil fuel corporation with a sordid record of environmental and human rights abuses. Enbridge is responsible for the largest inland oil spill in US history, which occurred a decade ago in the Kalamazoo River. They are continuing operations of their 68-year-old oil pipeline despite continued violations to their easement, currently pumping 23 million gallons of heavy crude oil underneath the world's largest source of fresh surface water every day. I played at the very first rally held to oppose Line 5 and it's been a powerful journey since then. Learn more about Line 5 and take action. More about the event. Our people-powered movement has us on the precipice of shutting down an active oil pipeline for the first time in history!
Later this month, I’ll be sharing the song and delivering closing remarks with my co-executive director Holly Bird at the Michigan Climate and Clean Energy Summit, a powerful event bringing together state and federal officials, business leaders, grassroots community organizers and youth. The last time I presented and played at this event my car literally caught on fire on the drive down! I got a tow and a ride and arrived 5 minutes before my workshop! This year it's all virtual, and though it's a Michigan-centric summit, there will be a circulation of ideas and solutions that has value through a national or international lens as well.
A call to action from my friends at 350.org:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve — the United States’ central public bank — bankrolled fossil fuel companies to the tune of billions of dollars. That was not public relief.
We need a central bank that supports Black, Indigenous, and POC communities fighting on the frontlines of COVID-19, racial and economic injustice, and climate destruction. Instead, the Federal Reserve is neglecting to regulate the banks financing oil, gas, and coal expansion projects, actively funding the climate crisis.
That’s why we’re joining our partners to demand that President Biden appoint a strong climate leader as Federal Reserve Chair who will implement policies and rules at the scale needed to address the climate emergency we’re facing.
We demand public money for public good.
Add your name on our petition demanding Joe Biden nominate a climate leader as the Federal Reserve Chair.
A call to action from my friends at 350.org:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve — the United States’ central public bank — bankrolled fossil fuel companies to the tune of billions of dollars. That was not public relief.
We need a central bank that supports Black, Indigenous, and POC communities fighting on the frontlines of COVID-19, racial and economic injustice, and climate destruction. Instead, the Federal Reserve is neglecting to regulate the banks financing oil, gas, and coal expansion projects, actively funding the climate crisis.
That’s why we’re joining our partners to demand that President Biden appoint a strong climate leader as Federal Reserve Chair who will implement policies and rules at the scale needed to address the climate emergency we’re facing.
We demand public money for public good.
Add your name on our petition demanding Joe Biden nominate a climate leader as the Federal Reserve Chair.
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Bill McKibben
that the climate movement needs more anthems!*If you’re involved in climate movement building or environmental justice work: Please message me if your team or any folks you know would like to explore collaborating.
*If you want to hear the music and support the movement: Find it on Bandcamp, Spotify, sign my mailing list or just stay tuned for calls to action in May!
“The Time Has Come” features Ruth Ungar Merenda from
The Mammals
on harmony vocals and vocal arrangements!Lyric video by Steve Leaf featuring footage of the basic tracking sessions at La Luna Recording and Sound
shot by Ken Campbell.
A solo acoustic version of "The Time Has Come". Video by Missing In Action Productions for TEDx Traverse City, 2020.
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"The Time Has Come" + Climate Justice collaborations
5/13 - “Evict Enbridge” - Indigenous-led events on the Straits of Mackinac, featuring Winona LaDuke, demanding the immediate shutdown of Line 5
5/1 - Michigan Alliance for Justice in Climate (MAJIC) May Day event!
