Unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple of months, you'd have heard of Jerusalema.
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It's a repetitive, catchy song sung in Zulu by a South African artist called Master KG. The first time I heard it, I was working in my home office.
"What's this repetitive music?" I asked my wife.
"Come and look!" she said.
It's developed into a worldwide dance craze. Think Macarena on steroids with an African feel.
If you search for Jerusalema on YouTube you will get videos of anything from a couple to a hundred or more people doing it, most wearing COVID masks, but all enjoying themselves hugely.
Warning, it can be addictive! Strangely, there's almost nothing from Australia, I'm not sure why ...
Now what has this to do with Eco News, you ask?
Well, Jerusalema got me thinking. If one guy can have this effect on the whole world, can't we do something similar for climate action? But there are people already doing that.
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish girl who at age 15 started School Strike for Climate, staged a one-girl protest outside the Swedish Parliament in 2018.
She had been worried about climate change for some years, and Sweden had experienced unprecedented heat waves and wild fires that year.
Greta's protest developed into a world-wide movement by school children protesting their governments' inaction.
Bathurst has had a couple of these protests and I went to the one in 2019. I was impressed by the knowledge, passion and commitment of these kids - they are the ones who are going to suffer the consequences of climate change.
Our prime minister waves a lump of coal around in parliament and tells us not to be afraid of it, while ignoring all scientific evidence.
Our prime minister waves a lump of coal around in parliament and tells us not to be afraid of it, while ignoring all scientific evidence.
We can't all be Master KGs or Greta Thunbergs. But they would be nothing without their followers.
Every little bit of action accomplishes something. Sign a petition, attend a protest, join or donate to an organisation like BCCAN or Stop Adani. Be the change you want to see in the world.
If we change things, we will at the very least have a cleaner world. If we don't, the consequences are far worse than COVID.
So do something, Australia (and also have a go at Jerusalema).
