Students Across Continents Sing Their Way to Climate Action
A live ClimateMusic Project performance transforms climate data into sound, using music to spark conversation and inspire meaningful climate action. Photo: ClimateMusic.
Climate change is a complex, often overwhelming issue, causing many to turn away or disengage from conversations about it. That’s where music comes in. Just as we share this planet, we share the language of music. And when we speak it, we have the power to restore our planet’s health and build a thriving network of changemakers.
For ten years, The ClimateMusic Project has worked to foster these challenging conversations through music. The project was founded by Stephan Crawford, who, like many of us, was frustrated by the lack of meaningful action to protect our planet despite its unmistakable call for help. The nonprofit organization is powered by a collective of scientists, composers, musicians, artists, technologists, policymakers, and other committed volunteers who collaborate to create music that addresses relevant climate crisis issues and foregrounds the meaningful actions we can take today, regardless of where we are in the world. That includes hosting live performances that showcase these compositions and engage audience members through post-concert Q&As, educational videos, and applicable action kits.
As a senior at Loyola Marymount University, a passionate environmentalist, and an aspiring music professional, I wanted to get involved in a meaningful project I could continue after graduation. I discovered The ClimateMusic Project through its collaboration with Music Declares Emergency and their connection to one of my favorite record labels, Ninja Tune. I was struck by their approach to climate advocacy through music and reached out with the idea of creating a student ambassador program. I never imagined how that idea would grow and the impact it would have.
Prior to my arrival, ClimateMusic partnered with Music Declares Emergency to create the Be Cool! Campaign in 2024. Musicians Will Kimbrough and Brant Miller collectively composed the song “I Wanna Be Cool!” as a unifying anthem for addressing climate change, for young people and their communities.
The foundation of the Be Cool! campaign came about during an informal morning meeting at a San Francisco cafe, where Stephan and Fran Schulberg from ClimateMusic met with Pete Kronowitt from Music Declares Emergency.” After listening to “I Wanna Be Cool,” Pete pointed out the line “Can’t you hear your kids starting to shout,” which sparked the idea to recruit young people around the world to create and share their own versions of the song. Aspiring to be a modern-day “We Are The World,” the campaign took off from there, recruiting over 2,500 young people from four continents to sing along.
When the song reached overseas, Nigerian musician and climate activist Idowu Esuku (known as Climate Man) was inspired to get local kids involved. Passionate about elevating young voices to speak to world leaders, he knew it was time for the children of Nigeria to have their turn. Many of these students live in rural communities where schools have no electricity, but their determination to be heard never wavered. Their spirit fueled the campaign, which ultimately brought together more than 1,000 young participants across Africa.
Making music together is empowering and worthwhile in its own right, but the connections formed during the recording process led to another sort of breakthrough. With the help of family, friends, and generous donors, the campaign team was able to raise over $4,000 for a solar installation at The Wisdom Academy in Nigeria’s Warri Delta. That one action song had led to new lights, computer access, and cooling fans—many kinds of crucial support for a new generation of changemakers.
After I joined the ClimateMusic team, the campaign’s success sparked my initial idea of a student ambassador program, which was quickly adapted into something bigger and more collaborative: the Be Cool! Connections program. Moving forward, the initiative will connect high schools, middle schools, and after-school programs in the U.S. with sister schools in Africa and developing nations around the world, working with U.S. schools to raise funds to install solar electricity for their partners abroad.
To help scale this project, we’ve partnered with Twende Solar, a nonprofit organization that shares our goal of empowering under-resourced communities with renewable energy systems. They find sustainable energy solutions while we educate, connect, and mobilize people through the arts.
Beyond funding sustainable energy projects, the program aims to empower young people. It will build cross-cultural connections and empathy through letter exchanges, video calls, and personal stories shared between students. It will also enrich curriculum by integrating global studies, environmental science, civic engagement, and—of course—music into a real-world project. Through this process, students develop skills in communication, organization, and fundraising that enhance their leadership abilities and inspire them to use their voices as informed, motivated advocates for climate action.
This program is just beginning, but the rapid progress we’ve made reminds us of what music makes possible. The connections we formed during Be Cool!’s early days have sparked new creative thinking and—we hope—a broader impact on global efforts to address our climate.
The climate emergency is urgent, and it is urgent because we can still do something about it. So we ask people to come together in harmony with open ears and open hearts, letting music guide us toward connection, meaningful climate action, and a brighter future.
Related Content
Africa, Ambassadors, Asia, Asia/Oceania, Europe, North America
The Ambassadors’ Exchange, May 2019
longy-admin
Featured, Funding & Support, North America, the ensemble
PlayUSA Grantees Focus on Artistry and Belonging
longy-admin
