No Music On A Dead Planet Climate Support T-Shirt

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While Reid’s hardly rested on his laurels since, it’s little surprise that his design for Music Declares Emergency’s ‘No Music On A Dead Planet’ T-shirt range draws on that instantly recognisable punk aesthetic. READ MORE Savages’ drummer and Music Declares Emergency co-founder Fay Milton on climate change – “Music needs to get real” Recycled’ vinyl is available quite commonly – it’s the offcuts from the process of making LPs,” explains Nigel Adams from independent label Full Time Hobby. “It isn’t massively more expensive and is cheaper than some of the colour variants – plus, you can get random colour-ways.” The nice thing about Festival Republic, and Reading & Leeds in particular, is that they recognise what an important role music can play in being a cultural influencer to create change,” Milton told NME. “They’re doing great stuff in terms of sustainability, but also recognising the power that they hold as a communicator.

With regards to education, I went to art college in Birmingham and I gave up. I’m not sure that’s the best bit of advice, but I gave up because a job as a graphic designer came up and I wanted to learn from that and make money. There was never a hard and fast rule, or a grand plan. It was because I was into stuff. I felt that I was willing to learn and I figured that if I was into what I was doing, things would go somewhere and that’s what’s happened.” At the time of its formation, independent group Music Declares set about organising an industry wide declaration of Climate and Ecological Emergency signed by leading artists including Thom Yorke, Stanley Donwood, Jamie Reid, Paul Cook, and Anthony Burrill as well as businesses within the UK music industry, calling for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and pledging industry action on environmental sustainability. At the heart of its work is the belief that “the music community can drive forward public understanding and pressure government to take immediate action on climate and biodiversity loss.” This goal is currently being bolstered by a line of t-shirts that raise awareness and funds for the organization, created by big names whose work has frequently married visual art and music, including Jamie Reid and Anthony Burrill. Speaking to NME about the organisation’s goals in 2019, Music Declares Emergency founder and Savages’ drummer Fay Milton said: “There’s such a short period of time to make the changes we need to make, and to make people wake up and realise that there isn’t time for everyone to change everything they do. Music festivals have to evolve; they can’t stand still,” Reading & Leeds boss Melvin Benn told Sounds Like A Plan. “The most important things are audience travel, the power, and what’s left behind and recycled.”While it might seem odd for a climate crisis organisation to be making anything physical at all, we’re assured that all the shirts are made through a process that’s “sustainable and circular,” using natural materials and renewable energy. People are also encouraged to send shirts that are “at the end of their life” to online retailer Teemill to be reincorporated into the manufacturing process and go round the cycle again. Peter Saville reworks Joy Division’s iconic ‘Unknown Pleasures’ for new Music Declares Emergency t-shirt. Credit: MDE/Press The music industry might just be one corner of the gigantic super-structure that is the climate crisis, but it has huge influence to inspire the action that’s needed. So don’t be disheartened. Complain, shout, protest. You can do your bit, but also don’t let our leaders and big business owners get away with not doing what’s required. It’s your future in their hands. We all want to still be enjoying our favourite bands in decades to come. There’s no music on a dead planet, after all.

Charity Music Declares Emergency blummin’ hopes so. The organisation was founded in July last year by music business executives and artists to forge a cohesive, industry wide response to the climate emergency—their declaration of a Climate and Ecological Emergency has over 3,500 signatures now. That document calls for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and pledges music industry action on environmental sustainability.This even extends to retailers. Some record stores, whose livelihoods largely depend on the sale of traditional vinyl, are being proactive. Norman Records, based in Leeds, has published advice for shoppers encouraging them to think more sustainably. That even includes buying less vinyl and embracing vinyl’s cyclical “resale and reuse” culture, as well as giving the option for customer’s to convert their loyalty points into credits that support plastic offsetting measures. Ultimately, Milton said that her dream was for “the music industry as a whole to really take a moment to take on board the real world situation that we’re in”. Maisie Peters added that it was “important that people do as much as they can, but this is a global issue for which governments have to be responsible.” They have to act responsibly and the more pressure we can put on them to do that, the better. We need a safer, fairer, greener world.” It was the afternoon of the BRIT Awards, I was recording a podcast with him expecting to hear about what outrageous suit he’d be wearing to the ceremony in London that evening. Instead, conversation turned to the existential danger posed by the climate and ecological emergency. It was exactly the type of conversation – a mix of desperate frustration and stubborn optimism – I’ve had with numerous musicians recently. Summing things up, Simon said: “Things have changed, and we need to wake up… We need to do so much more. Me and my band need to figure out ways so that we’re not contributing anything to that.”

Not even NFTs (non-fungible tokens) escape this debate. These pieces of one-of-a-kind digital content – everyone from Slipknot to Mike Shinoda to Poppy have got in on the act – also have a negative impact on the environment. The cryptocurrencies used to buy and sell them create planet-heating emissions – one piece of analysis, reported by The Verge, estimated the average NFT has a carbon footprint equivalent to a month’s worth of electricity usage for a standard person in the EU. For more information on the Music Declares Emergency Turn Up The Volume campaign and this week’s events visit here. Speaking to NME about the organisation’s goals in 2019, Music Declares Emergency founder and Savages’ drummer Fay Milton said: “There’s such a short period of time to make the changes we need to make, and to make people wake up and realise that there isn’t time for everyone to change everything they do. Then I got to work with Metallica on posters and T-shirts, which has been a real honour. In 2019 I was on the guestlist when they played Manchester and it was surreal to see my artwork on their shirts behind on the merch stand. My wife was like, ‘Oh, my god, look there’s a person wearing one of your shirts! And there’s another one! And another!’ It all culminated in that really, because they’re one of my favourite bands and they’re the band that really got me into metal.” Whether with Radiohead, or across projects like his ongoing work for Glastonbury, the linocut graphic novel Bad Island , JG Ballard book covers or large-scale installation, his work is frequently disquieting in the best possible way. The same goes for this t-shirt design; but then again, the climate emergency is pretty unnerving.The music industry is very childish,” she added. “We run around thinking we’re special, we make a mess and someone else clears it up. We think that the rules don’t apply to us. In certain areas, that’s fun because it leads to creativity. When it comes to impact on the planet, it’s just not OK because the people you’re impacting are your audience. READ MORE: Savages’ drummer and Music Declares Emergency co-founder Fay Milton on climate change: “Music needs to get real” Considering all this, it's no wonder the voice of the music community is once again growing louder on the issue. This time it feels different – more defiant. Enter Music Declares Emergency, a grassroots collective co-founded by Fay Milton from punk band Savages. They witnessed the work being done by activist group Extinction Rebellion in 2019 and decided it was time to create a space where their friends and colleagues in the music industry could unite in action on climate. Their striking motto stands also a warning: ‘No Music On A Dead Planet’. Their mission is clear, too. They urge governments and media to tell the truth about the scale and severity of the problem, call on governments to have net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and encourage people to recognise the injustices in society that’ve led to the climate and ecological emergency. Launched in July 2019, Music Declares Emergency is an independent charity with no party political or commercial affiliations. We believe in the power of music to promote the necessary cultural changes to create a greener, fairer, better future. This campaign relies on artists from across the musical spectrum stepping up and using their voices.