by STAFF WRITER
GEORGETOWN, Guyana Dec. 2, CMC– A song seeking to raise awareness about the impact of climate change, has been released by ten Caribbean artists.
“1.5 To Stay Alive” features lyrics by poet Kendel Hippolyte and music by Ronald Boo Hinkson, both of St. Lucia.
The song’s release coincides with the UN climate change conference in Paris, where Caribbean nations are pushing for an agreement on measures to ensure that global temperatures do not rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
“Each person gave time, gave talent, gave art, gave heart for Caribbean civilization – because that’s what we’re fighting to save and pass on,” Hippolyte said.
The artistes involved in the recording are Banky Banx from Anguilla; BelO from Haiti; E.sy Kennenga from Martinique, Jessy Leonce, Ace Loctar and Shayne Ross from St. Lucia; David Rudder from Trinidad; Aaron Silk from Jamaica; and Taj Weekes and Deridee Williams from St. Lucia. Over the past few weeks, under the motto “1.5 to stay alive”, artists, media workers, civil society organisations and government officials have worked together to raise awareness of the importance of the negotiations now taking place in Paris and of their major implications for the Caribbean.
One of the messages conveyed in this campaign, which was launched by St Lucia’s Minister of Sustainable Development Dr James Fletcher in October, is the need for the Paris conference to deliver a legally binding agreement, a transparent and verifiable agreement that limits carbon emissions and ensures that global temperatures do not rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The campaign, also seeks to highlight the fact that it is the poorest countries, communities and people that are the most vulnerable to climate change, and that the fight against climate change is also the fight against poverty and for social justice.
CARICOM comprises Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
