Last Monday in London’s financial centre, 100 choristers from various generations and vocal ranges gathered to sing in protest at the headquarters of the City’s biggest fossil fuel-backing corporations. The protest action coincided with the Cop26 climate summit in Dubai and aimed to gather support for the Stop Ecocide campaign, which seeks to criminalize the destruction of the environment. The singers belong to the Climate Choir Movement, which launched in January 2023 and has grown to have 550 members across 10 choirs based in the UK.
Jo Flanagan co-founded the Climate Choir Movement and was inspired by a video of US climate activists singing a flash mob protest in the middle of a conference speech against greenwashing. Since its launch, the Movement has grown and now includes local choirs who organize their own rehearsals and protests, while all members can attend monthly Zoom sessions to learn new songs for protests. Flanagan notes that what sets the Climate Choir Movement apart from the other choirs that sing about nature is its targeted approach, where carefully choreographed and peaceful performance protests aim to change hearts and minds.
According to Ruth Routledge, a singing-for-health practitioner and the leader of Portsmouth choir, participating in peaceful performance protests is a “wonderful, uplifting” experience. The movement attracts members regardless of singing ability. Passersby, including “a couple of lads”, who joined the protest action were not exempted from Tuition. The sense of hope and inclusion that singing together brings is said to exemplify the core values of the movement.
Flanagan reveals that the movement’s biggest successes are the reactions of onlookers brought to tears, which illustrates for her, how singing can effect change by “reaching deep inside people in a way that other forms of protest can’t.” The Movement is committed to protesting against environmental degradation, which it views as a global emergency requiring urgent action. Consequently, they have resolved to continue peaceful protests in their hundreds across different parts of the UK to remind the world in a melodious way, of the imperatives of this emergency
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