climate change
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As the global climate crisis continues to cause the planet’s oceans to warm and rise, imperiling citizens of island (and low-lying) nations, Rihanna issues an urgent plea to world leaders to step it up. In a tweet Tuesday morning (June 20) that called out U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and World Band President Ajay Banga, […]
A group of corporate Amazon workers upset about the company’s environmental impact, recent layoffs and a return-to-office mandate is planning a walkout at the company’s Seattle headquarters Wednesday.
The lunchtime protest comes a week after Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting and a month after a policy took effect requiring workers to return to the office three days per week.
“We respect our employees’ rights to express their opinions,” the company said in a statement.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,900 employees had pledged to walk out around the world, with about 900 in Seattle, according to Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a climate change advocacy group founded by Amazon workers. While some plan to gather at the Amazon Spheres — a four-story structure in downtown Seattle that from the outside looks like three connected glass orbs — others will participate remotely.
Some employees have complained that Amazon has been slow to address its impact on climate change. Amazon, which relies on fossil fuels to power the planes, trucks and vans that ship packages all over the world, has an enormous carbon footprint. Amazon workers have been vocal in criticizing some of the company’s practices.
In an annual statement to investors, Amazon said it aims to deploy 100,000 electric delivery vehicles by 2030 and reach net-zero carbon by 2040. But walkout organizers contend the company must do more and commit to zero emissions by 2030.
“While we all would like to get there tomorrow, for companies like ours who consume a lot of power, and have very substantial transportation, packaging, and physical building assets, it’ll take time to accomplish,” Brad Glasser, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement.
Glasser said there has also been a good energy on the company’s South Lake Union campus and at its other urban centers since more employees returned to the office. More than 20,000 workers, however, signed a petition urging Amazon to reconsider the return-to-office mandate.
“As it pertains to the specific topics this group of employees is raising,” Glasser said, “we’ve explained our thinking in different forums over the past few months and will continue to do so.”
In a February memo, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company made its decision to return corporate employees to the office at least three days a week after observing what worked during the pandemic. Among other things, he said senior leadership watched how staff performed and talked to leaders at other companies. He said they concluded employees tended to be more engaged in person and collaborate more easily.
In a note asking Amazon employees to pledge their participation in the walkout, organizers said Amazon “must return autonomy to its teams, who know their employees and customers best, to make the best decision on remote, in-person, or hybrid work, and to its employees to choose a team which enables them to work the way they work best.”
The walkout follows widespread cost-cutting at Amazon, where layoffs have affected workers in advertising, human resources, gaming, stores, devices and Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing division. The company has cut 27,000 jobs since November.
Like other tech companies, including Facebook parent Meta and Google parent Alphabet, Amazon ramped up hiring during the pandemic to meet the demand from homebound Americans who were increasingly shopping online to keep themselves safe from the virus.
Amazon’s workforce, in warehouses and offices, doubled to more than 1.6 million people in about two years. But demand slowed as the worst of the pandemic eased. The company began pausing or canceling its warehouse expansion plans last year.
Amid growing anxiety over the potential for a recession, Amazon in the past few months shut down a subsidiary that’s been selling fabrics for nearly 30 years, shuttered Amazon Care, its hybrid virtual, in-home care service, and closed Amazon Smile, a philanthropic program.
Maggie Baird has brought her Support + Feed mission to those in her community, to fans at her daughter Billie Eilish‘s concerts and, as of Friday (April 28), to Global Citizen Now.
The food and climate activist was one of four speakers on a panel about food insecurity and ethical, sustainable sourcing at the 2023 New York City summit for activists, joining Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness, restauranteur Pinky Cole and Eleven Madison Park owner Daniel Humm onstage in front of fellow industry leaders and members of the press. Baird founded Support + Feed in 2020 to combat hunger in Los Angeles during the pandemic, through which she developed a bigger mission of eliminating food insecurity via equitable plant-based food systems because, as she explains, “climate change is inextricably linked to what we eat.”
But environmentalism has been her life’s passion since long before then. Behind the scenes of the summit, Baird spoke with Billboard about spending most of her life as an “apologetic” vegan and climate warrior, until one Thanksgiving about 15 years ago, she just stopped apologizing. “I was like, no more going to people’s houses with the turkey on the table, everyone worshipping the destruction of an animal, nobody caring about the environment,” she recalls of putting her foot down.
“We’re going to do Thanksgiving at home alone, [because I’ve been] bringing all the food anyway cause I’m bringing the vegan version of everything,” she continues. “Why have I been apologizing for decades for doing something that is right?”
Both Eilish and her older brother/songwriting partner Finneas have grown up to become vocal climate activists. The “Bad Guy” singer features informative videos on Support + Feed at her concerts along with stations where fans can challenge themselves to eat daily plant-based meals, and she made her mom’s organization one of a few green organizations to benefit from her proceeds.
“Billie’s fans jumped on the bandwagon,” Baird says of Support + Feed’s beginnings. “It was amazing. One of the things I did with Billie from the beginning was push the music industry to be more sustainably minded. I think the music industry is special in a lot of ways. They have direct artist to fan connection — other forms of entertainment, not so much. A musician has a real heart-to-heart connection with their fans.”
And while Baird did raise Finneas and Billie with firm, sustainable values — every year, for example, their Christmas presents are wrapped in the same reusable cloths — she says both musicians independently found their own distinct passions for the cause. “I was not apologetic to my family, I was always very outspoken,” she says with a laugh. “We put things in their paths for them to learn it themselves. I remember very distinctly [Billie] watching a David Attenborough documentary with me and how it influenced her way more than I ever could. She’s quite adamant. Anything that might have come from me, she’s taken it on and then some.”
In addition to Baird’s food-focused discussion, the two-day Global Citizen Now summit included conversations on abortion access, supporting women in workplaces, protecting protesters in Iraq and Kenya and more climate-focused seminars. John Legend stopped by to advocate for greater voter turnout as the 2024 election approaches, actress Busy Philipps called for more representation of reproductive health issues in entertainment, and French President Emmanuel Macron joined in via video chat for a conversation on implementing global sustainability policies.
Going forward, Baird has plans to team up with more big-name musicians to spread Support + Feed’s message. Paramore endorses the organization at shows — “[Hayley Williams] basically said to me, ‘We don’t want to tour unless we’re doing something good for the world,’” Baird recalls — and Pharrell Williams has also come aboard.
“We can offer musicians the chance to reach their fans and do something really active,” Baird says. “They can give them the chance to learn about what’s happening, take our plant-based pledge and hopefully deliver meals. Musicians and music events are perfect because you’ve got so many people in the same place, and people who really care.”
John Legend was on hand Friday morning (April 28) to advocate for voter turnout at the second day of Global Citizen Now’s two-day summit for activists and change-makers in New York City.
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In conversation with Tamron Hall in an onstage panel before industry leaders and members of the press, Legend stressed the importance of making voter registration more accessible — or automatic, when possible — and fighting against politicians interfering in the voting process. Having recently become a father of three in January, when he and Chrissy Teigen welcomed their daughter Esti, the “All Of Me” singer said that voting in favor of reproductive healthcare, LGBTQ rights and student debt relief has become increasingly important to him as he hopes to create better circumstances for his kids’ generation.
“I’ve always cared deeply about the future, I’ve always cared deeply about the world we are building for our children,” he said. “But every time I think about all the love we pour into our own kids, and all we want for their future, I think about the parents who don’t have the resources we have.”
“We want a democracy that’s open to everybody and that encourages our leaders to do what’s right because they know they answer to the people,” he continued.
After praising President Biden’s student debt relief efforts and climate action legislation, Legend left off on a challenge: make the 2024 election go down in history for having the highest youth voter turnout ever. “We as young people,” the 44-year-old musician began, before laughing: “I still count myself as young. That’s a stretch…we have to make sure that we are reaching out to our friends and encouraging them to get out and vote.”
Also on the docket for Friday’s event were discussions on climate change, abortion access, protecting protesters in Iraq and Kenya and workplace equality for women. Katie Holmes helped introduce the summit by encouraging viewers to spread awareness of Global Citizen Now’s message via social media, Dawson’s Creek actress Busy Philipps called for more inclusion of reproductive health storylines in entertainment and the reinstatement of Roe v. Wade, and French President Emmanuel Macron joined in via video chat for a conversation on including poor and emerging countries in implementing global sustainability policies, for which he thinks collaboration between China and the U.S. — the No. 1 and No. 2 biggest greenhouse gas emitters, respectively — is essential.
When Morning Joe anchor and guest mediator Joe Scarborough joked during a brief break in the event’s live telecast that “if anyone at MSNBC is listening, we have the president of France so you can stop talking about Tucker Carlson,” Macron, waiting on standby, couldn’t help but let out a genuine laugh. Carlson was recently fired by Fox News, the longtime home of the highly controversial, right-wing program Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Sinan Aral, director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, weighed in during a conversation on the need for ethical regulations in the world of tech, particularly where artificial intelligence is involved. If people were freaking out about the bizarre success of the viral fake Drake and The Weeknd duet earlier this month, Aral says the world isn’t prepared for how “very dangerous” booming AI technology could become if weaponized during upcoming elections.
“The misinformation of the 2020 election is child’s play compared with what is possible for deepfake video and audio,” he said.
See more details about Global Citizen Now here.
The Recording Academy is using the power of music for good.
On Wednesday (April 5), the organization announced a new partnership with several United Nations Human Rights-supported global initiatives on a campaign that will engage major artists to use their talents and platform to galvanize support for UN human rights goals, including advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality, women’s empowerment, climate justice and a broad range of other human rights issues.
The first activation under the initiative is the Right Here, Right Now Mini Global Climate Concert Series, which will see popular arena acts performing in small concert venues around the world while highlighting climate issues including floods, droughts, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, food insecurity, clean water, ocean acidity, deforestation, mental health and more. The series is set to kick off April 13 at the Boulder Theater in Colorado with The Lumineers’ Wesley Schultz alongside special guest Yola. The performance, produced by AEG Presents and supported by the University of Colorado Boulder, will be filmed by Citizen Pictures for a later broadcast.
The concert series is a partnership between the Recording Academy and the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance, a public-private partnership developed by David Clark Cause alongside UN Human Rights that seeks to address climate change as a human rights crisis.
“We are honored to be working with several United Nations-supported global music initiatives to bring together artists and create unique music events to promote social justice around the world,” said Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. in a release. “Music has no boundaries so we are excited to partner with the artist community and work with the United Nations to further their human rights goals and ultimately, better the world.”
The Right Here, Right Now initiative plans to hold additional concerts in cities on multiple continents, with discussions already underway for shows in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, London, Johannesburg, Bogotá and Dubai. Proceeds will go to United Nations Human Rights climate justice initiatives as well as MusiCares, the Recording Academy’s music charity, which is establishing The Right Here, Right Now MusiCares Fund to focus relief efforts on music communities impacted by the climate crisis.
“Music provides a platform for the biggest megaphone in the world,” added Clark Cause in a statement, adding that Boulder was chosen as the kickoff city because it “has become the ‘Davos of Climate Change,’ since the University of Colorado Boulder recently convened world leaders, top climate experts, business leaders, and human rights advocates, along with students from our Education Coalition that includes over 2,300 universities – for the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit co-hosted with United Nations Human Rights last year.”
Celebrities who have previously lent their support to the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance and United Nations Human Rights include Quincy Jones, Celine Dion, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cher, Camila Cabello, Annie Lennox, LL Cool J, Cyndi Lauper, Pitbull, Jack Black, the Lumineers, Ellen DeGeneres, Jeff Bridges, Edward Norton, Bob Weir, Dead & Company, Kesha, Joss Stone and Michael Franti.
“Throughout history, music has been an important outlet for communication, cultural expression, and expression of dissent. As the Global Partner of the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance, UN Human Rights welcomes the news that the Recording Academy will be joining the alliance as the Global Partner of Right Here, Right Now Music, in order to help promote our mutual goals and objectives to help prevent the worst impacts of the climate catastrophe on persons, groups and peoples in vulnerable situations,” said Benjamin Schachter, UN Human Rights team leader for environment and climate change.
The Right Here, Right Now Mini Global Concert at Boulder Theater is being advised on best sustainability practices by Sound Future Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to accelerate climate innovation for the live event industry.
Billie Eilish knows what it looks like when a famous pop star who flies around the world to play concerts for tens of thousands of fans starts banging on about saving the environment. She fully understands how hypocritical is can seem, but that has not stopped the 21-year-old global superstar from intensely focusing on reducing her carbon footprint and encouraging others to do the same.
It might also explain why the singer sat down with a group of highly motivated young climate activists for Vogue magazine’s first-ever video cover as part of a lively conversation filmed by Oscar-nominated director Mike Mills.
“I don’t want to be parading around like, Look at me! I’m making a difference. I just want to be making the difference and shutting the f–k up about it,” Eilish told the magazine for its January cover. “I shouldn’t be making any products. I shouldn’t be selling anything. It’s just more s–t to go into the landfill one day. I know that. But no one’s going to stop wearing clothes. No one’s going to stop making stuff. So I just do it in the best way I possibly can.”
Eilish said she tries very hard to to be “in people’s faces” about her environmental focus, knowing full well that fans don’t respond well to that and that it can end up hurting your cause. But she has been doing her part, which includes not flying private and setting up Eco-Villages at her 2022 Happier Than Ever tour dates in partnership with Reverb where fans can fill up their water bottles for free, register to vote and learn about environmental non-profits.
“I’m still not shoving information down people’s throats,” said the singer, whose efforts to reduce her footprint have resulted in 8.8 million gallons of water saved and 15,000-plus tons of CO2 neutralized according to a Reverb post-tour impact report that noted those figures are equivalent to taking 3,000 homes off the electrical grid for a year. “I’m more like, I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’m just going to tell you why I do this,” Eilish added, laughing, “But you’re also a bad person if you don’t do it.”
Eiilsh and her brother/collaborator Finneas, made a pre-recorded appearance at Prince William’s Earthshot Prize awards ceremony last month in Boston honoring those making efforts to restore nature, clean our polluted air and oceans and build a waste-free world. She also arranged for her run of shows last year at London’s O2 arena to coincide with the climate-awareness event Overheated, which was named for a song from her most recent album.
The Vogue climate summit found Eilish meeting with a group of activists all under 30, including 16-year-old Ryan Berberet, who led a climate strike at her California high school and whose led a campaign to pressure Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a statewide climate emergency. Other attendees included 29-year-old Tori Tsui, a Hong Kong native who spoke at Overheated and whose book on the climate crisis and mental health, It’s Not Just You, will be published later this year by Simon & Schuster.
Also on hand were: Isaias Hernandez, aka “Queer Brown Vegan”; model/ Indigenous rights activist Quannah Chasinghorse; Fridays for Future organizer and Re-Earth Initiative cofounder Xiye Bastida; sustainable clothing designer/animator Maya Penn; Nalleli Cobo, who helped pressure Big Oil to close down a toxic well in her neighborhood; and Wanjiku “Wawa” Gatheru, a Rhodes Scholar and founder of Black Girl Environmentalist.
“I’ve really never gotten to talk to a group of people my age before that I agree with on so many things,” said Eilish. “It was so thrilling to talk to people that share my beliefs and are so smart, you know? They’re my age and they’re doing so much. It made me really, really, really hopeful.”
Cobo grew up in a South L.A. neighborhood just 30 feet from a toxic oil well that caused a myriad of health problems in her youth, culminating at 19 in a diagnosis of reproductive cancer that required multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation that left her unable to have children. “I listened to ‘Everything I Wanted’ on repeat while filling out my pre-op paperwork,” Cobo said of the song from Eilish’s 2019 debut album that helped her get through the medical crisis. “Something about her music brings me peace.”
Though she was the only true famous name in the room, Eilish told the activists she felt like she didn’t deserve to be there, admitting, “I don’t know much. I’m just learning.” Penn, however, put the singer at ease, saying, “Billie’s excited to take her fans on the journey with her, which is something I feel a lot of pop culture figures are afraid to do. And she really pushes hard for something that I’ve always believed in, which is that it’s cool to care.”
The casual, but intense conversation found the singer and activists sitting on the floor and discussing the actions they’ve taken to lobby and push for climate awareness and talking about the impact of climate change on their lives and the planet amid vivid images of our natural world as well as the devastation caused by industrialization and human activity.
The chat also involved a check-in on the attendees’ mental health and feelings about climate anxiety in light of a 2017 report by the American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica that found that climate worry can lead to feelings of “loss, helplessness and frustration.” Or, in Eilish’s case, “it makes me want to barf all over the floor.”
In the end, Eilish said, the entire group wished they could make a change on their own, in their lives, that could help save the rapidly warming planet. “Grow my own food and live off the grid. Erase my carbon footprint,” she said, laughing at such lofty thoughts. “But all that does is erase me. When really, if every single person just did half of what they should do, we could fix this.”
Watch Mills’ 10-minute Vogue video below.