Sean Paul, the Grammy award-winning musician who sang the Love Song to the Earth with other celebrities says, “I need lungs to sing. I’ve got asthma.” The Jamaican rapper and pop singer is “going more and more green”, getting familiar with solar power, reducing waste. He wants less pollution.
Accompanied by Jerry Cope the director of the song and music video, and cinematographer Louie Schwartzberg at a press interaction at the Climate Conference in Paris on Thursday, the singer said he was troubled by pollution and environmental degradation. Jamaican athletes are having to run in smog in his country, he said.
“I was driven here in an electric car, and was asking how much it costs. Crazy that people shop in stores… in one day they could buy that car,” he said referring to the affordability of electric vehicles. Sean Paul extolled the power of music to make an emotional appeal to people and promised to do even more for the environment, including Jamaica. The Caribbean country faced a crippling drought last year, which left many including its coffee growers in severe distress.
The Love Song to the Earth, viewable on a website of the same name, features nature and landscapes with the message, “You are no ordinary world”. Paul McCartney and Jon Bon Jovi among others are part of the group that made the song. Proceeds from the song’s sales and video viewership go towards keeping fossil fuel in the ground through the NGO Friends of the Earth.