Neil Young

The Monsanto Years: Neil Young Rocking for a Greener World

Celebrities have a unique ability to engage people in environmental campaigns, writes Pat Thomas. Neil Young is a case in point: his latest album, The Monsanto Years, conveys an eloquent message of the dangers of GMOs and corporate power, and his upcoming European tour offers green campaigners a unique opportunity to engage a broader public in the fight for a green future.

If you're a campaigning NGO, your daily worry - apart from where the next tranche of funding will come from - is how to reach the widest number of people with your message.

May 31, 2016 | Source: The Ecologist | by Pat Thomas

Celebrities have a unique ability to engage people in environmental campaigns, writes Pat Thomas. Neil Young is a case in point: his latest album, The Monsanto Years, conveys an eloquent message of the dangers of GMOs and corporate power, and his upcoming European tour offers green campaigners a unique opportunity to engage a broader public in the fight for a green future.

If you’re a campaigning NGO, your daily worry – apart from where the next tranche of funding will come from – is how to reach the widest number of people with your message.

Surveys suggest that we still have a long way to go to reach a place where the general public perceives environmental issues as urgent, or even connected.

One of the last major surveys into public attitudes found that many believe that health care, education and poverty are all more pressing – though it’s likely that too many are still unaware of how environmental degradation contributes to all of these things.

Most people are sympathetic – at least in a detached, intellectual way – to the need for things like sustainability, energy conservation, climate change mitigation, biodiversity, fair trade, and other green issues. But turning intellectual curiosity into a felt sense of urgency and then into action is a whole other challenge.

Celebrities to the rescue!

To provoke that sense of urgency many NGOs turn to celebrities for help. As a tactic it brings both positives and negatives. On the one hand celebrity involvement can de-politicise issues which are absolutely political. There is also the issue of follow-through; celebrities, unlike campaigners, have the luxury of picking up and putting down ’causes’ with ease.

On the other hand, our emotional connection to celebrity and fame can seed an emotional connection to the causes that celebrities find appealing. Our awe of celebrity can make us stand still just long enough to absorb the salient facts about environmental issues.

I’ve seen it happen myself. In 2009 when I was working as the Director of Paul McCartney’s Meat Free Monday campaign, we were lucky enough to be the main attraction at a special public hearing at the European Parliament under the title of Global Warming and Food Policy: Less Meat = Less Heat.

It was an impressive line-up of speakers that, in addition to Sir Paul, included Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri, Olivier de Schutter, Dr Alan Dangour and others. The event was streamed live to millions around the world and kicked off a conversation in the EU about meat, climate and sustainable diets that is still going on today.