In December 2024, Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack made headlines when he announced the band had declined an invitation to play Coachella, citing the festival’s reckless water usage and other unsustainable practices. This move exemplifies a rising tide of musicians taking a stand against the climate crisis—through sustainable tours, philanthropy, and overt activism, but also directly through their musicality.
Just this month, deadly wildfires blazed across the greater Los Angeles area, uprooting tens of thousands of people from their homes and devastating lives and entire communities. As the world warms and the frequency and intensity of natural disasters increase across the globe, the question of music’s role in the fight for climate action becomes increasingly relevant.
In the face of the apocalyptic doom and gloom of a warming climate, music is a rallying cry and a refuge, a way to process the enormity of what’s at stake and to spark collective action. While facts and data often dominate climate discourse, musical activism can transcend political, cultural, and linguistic divides. Music, partly due to its innate connection to nature, has a unique ability to evoke feelings of biophilia (meaning love for the planet) often lost in a global system relentlessly prioritizing profit and individualism over preservation and community. Art taps into our shared humanity, offering solace and solidarity in the face of a crisis designed to isolate.
Music and the natural world have always been intimately intertwined. In the 1960s and 70s, as the mainstream environmental movement gained momentum, many popular artists echoed the urgency of the moment—the era brought us iconic songs like Joni Mitchell’s "Big Yellow Taxi", Marvin Gaye's "Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology) and Pete Seeger’s "My Dirty Stream", to name a few. Nearly 65 years after Rachel Carson's Silent Spring alerted the masses to the urgency of environmental action, the world is burning—melting ice, rising sea levels, devastating wildfires, prolonged droughts, and biodiversity loss are already wreaking havoc in vulnerable regions, and among vulnerable populations. The crisis will only continue to reshape landscapes and lives across the globe.
Musicians are confronting the climate emergency in powerful ways—sometimes with direct activism, other times through personal or cultural reflections on nature. These artists remind us that the fight for climate justice cannot be reduced to mere numbers or statistics; it’s a living breathing force in the lives, landscapes, and legacies that music has always sought to protect. Here are ten songs by artists using sound to speak out for a planet in peril.
"Faith Made of Silk" - Nicolas Jaar
This haunting track from Chilean-American electronic composer Nicolas Jaar comes from the first of two albums released in 2020, Cenizas (Spanish for "Ashes"). Jaar guides us through an ambient, meditative interplay between the natural and synthetic, seamlessly blending sharp electronic synths and glitches with acoustic elements. The result is a soundscape that expands and distorts, imbued with Jaar’s characteristic reverb to evoke unease and anticipation as it builds. The title, "A Faith Made of Silk", conjures images of impermanence and fragility, contrasting these with the resilience and trust embodied in faith. This duality—hope and despair, fragility and strength—plays out in a track that feels like both a cry for help and an invocation of optimism for the earth and its people.
Jaar is no stranger to protest music and has been an innovative force within the world of electronica. In an experimental 2019 installation for Amsterdam’s Het HEM protesting the Dutch military’s destructive use of forests, he quoted American anthropologist Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, “Don’t look ahead, look around”. These words became the refrain of "A Faith Made of Silk," repeated throughout the track in a way that feels both introspective and unifying. Is Jaar telling us not to look ahead because of the destruction and devastation that lies there? Or is he encouraging us to look around and find solutions to the climate crisis within community, and in the natural and human world that surrounds us?
Look around not ahead / A peak is just the way towards a descent
"Separation" - Alice Boyd
In her debut EP, From the Understory, British sound-artist Alice Boyd joins a growing collective of scientists and artists using the energetic activity of plants to create music through bio-sonification. The entire EP feels like a melodic plea to the earth for forgiveness, guidance, and reconnection. As part of her artistic residency at the Eden Project, Boyd crafted a custom device to record the energetic pulses of plants in a rainforest biome, translating their activity into synthesized sounds that became the foundation of her music. The track titles alone—"Separation, Growth, Imbalance, Connection, and Symbiosis"—trace a clear arc, highlighting humanity’s deviation in its pursuit of economic progress and envisioning the harmony we might achieve by attuning ourselves to the energies of the natural world.
The opening track, "Separation", feels like stepping into an expansive natural landscape. Boyd’s voice emerges in tentative bursts as if finding its place within nature. Layered with what sounds like rushing water and wind, the track gradually builds into a single, resonant whole. By weaving her music into the organic sounds of plant matter, Boyd hopes to build empathy, surprising and reminding listeners that the divide between humanity and the natural world is an illusion. In doing so, she speaks to something innate within us, urging reconnection before it’s too late.
"Break Up" - Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
This track comes from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s Theory of Ice. Released in 2021, the work is a profound musical compilation that transforms seven of her original poems into a haunting musical meditation on our relationship with water. A celebrated Indigenous scholar, writer, and musician, Simpson is a member of southern Ontario's Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg people. Her work often draws on the rich traditions and teachings of her Anishinaabe heritage and this album is no exception. The songs are poetic and sonic explorations of the interconnectedness between humans, water, and the natural cycles of life.
"Break-Up", the album's first track, begins with Simpson’s soft-spoken narration, recounting the arrival of spring. Her lyrics evoke both fragility and resilience. She uses the Anishinaabe concept of aabawe—the first warmth of spring that signals a softening of the world. and the inner softening that accompanies it.
aabawe / the first warmth of spring
She paints a vivid portrait of water’s power, linking the thawing of ice to the possibility of healing, growth, and forgiveness. Her voice shifts from gentle narration to dreamy, melodic chorus, offering a moment of catharsis as the natural world awakens.
aabawe / a loosening of the mind to forgive
"Afrique Victime" - Mdou Moctar
Moctar’s "Afrique Victime" is a scorching anthem channeling the anguish and resistance of a continent grappling with centuries of exploitation and environmental devastation. A member of the Tuareg minority in Niger, Moctar’s identity is deeply rooted in the rich musical traditions of the Sahel region, the birthplace of Tuareg Desert Blues. This genre blends traditional Saharan sounds with electric rock influences.
The Tuareg people, long marginalized and displaced, are among the groups most affected by the intensifying impacts of climate change in the region. The Sahel has seen desertification, rising temperatures, and unpredictable rainfall in recent years, threatening livelihoods and exacerbating food and water insecurity in an area already strained by conflict and resource extraction. In the seven-and-a-half-minute track, Moctar’s searing guitar work embodies the frustrations of communities bearing the brunt of colonial legacies and environmental collapse, capturing a profound sense of urgency. The lyrics mourn the exploitation of Africa’s resources and its people, offering a lament for the past and a demand for justice moving forward.
The song powerfully reminds us that the climate crisis is not just an environmental issue but is deeply tied to histories of oppression and inequality stemming from centuries of colonialism. The Sahel’s arid landscape and shifting sands serve as both a metaphor and a battleground in his music, where traditional Tuareg rhythms collide with electrifying Western rock styles to call for solidarity and action. The song transcends borders, urging listeners to confront the global links between climate justice and social justice. In a world facing environmental collapse, "Afrique Victime" is both a battle cry and a testament to resilience—proving that, even in the face of profound injustice, marginalized communities can help build a more just and sustainable future.
"Teeth Agape" - Tanya Tagaq
From her 2022 Tongues, Tanya Tagaq—an Inuk throat singer, activist, and performer—delivers a track deeply rooted in Inuit concepts of motherhood and survival. Tagaq’s music has long addressed the drastic effects of anthropogenic climate change on the land and the people it sustains. As a member of the Inuit, an Indigenous group residing in the Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia, Tagaq channels the frustration of communities already experiencing the devastation of melting ice in the region. Her perspective as a mother in this song underscores that the impacts of environmental degradation are profoundly personal and cultural, as well as economic.
Touch my children and my teeth welcome your windpipe
The song continues the album’s cohesive style with a cutthroat, spoken-word narration on resistance and anger. From the first guitar riffs, it exudes intensity and fury. While the instrumentation remains steady throughout, Tagaq’s voice snarls and builds, asserting her presence as an unstoppable force. The listener is drawn into her transformation into a relentless beast, prepared to defend the land and her people against harm. The track leaves you chilled—not only by the raw emotion and power of Tagaq’s voice but also by the gravity of the environmental crisis she confronts.
"The Essence" - Aurora
Norwegian artist Aurora’s 2024 album What Happened to the Earth explores environmental protection and interconnectedness. It draws inspiration from Brazilian Indigenous climate activists Sônia Guajajara and Célia Xakriabá, whose 2022 open letter, "We Are the Earth", calls for urgent climate action. The letter describes the earth not as a resource to exploit but as a living, breathing entity deeply connected to humanity and central to Indigenous communities deserving respect and protection. Aurora reflects these themes throughout her album, blending the personal with the global and encouraging listeners to rethink the separation between nature and humanity.
"The Essence" unites the intimate and universal. Through a delicate fusion of synth-pop beats and acoustic instrumentation, Aurora draws on diverse sounds to evoke reverence for the Earth’s resources. The song’s sparse arrangement highlights her radiant vocals, gradually building to a powerful crescendo that mirrors the rhythms of the natural world. In the ebb and flow of her voice, listeners can feel the pulse of a world struggling to breathe.
The song frames self-healing as inseparable from collective action, comparing personal transformation to societal change and emphasizing that accountability is central to both the inner and outer fight for progress. To recognize our connection to nature is also to confront how we have failed it. "The Essence" is an ethereal exploration of a future where humanity regains harmony with the earth. By weaving personal introspection, activism, and environmental consciousness, Aurora offers a poignant tribute to the global fight for environmental justice.
“Breaking” - ANOHNI and the Johnsons
Iconic British-born singer ANOHNI first captivated fans and climate activists with her searing anthem "4 Degrees" in 2016, a metallic, unflinching call to action against ecological collapse. In 2024, she offers a quieter yet equally powerful reflection on the same crisis. Where "4 Degrees" was desperate and intense, "Breaking" is tender and introspective, pairing a sparse arrangement of guitar and clarinet with ANOHNI’s raw, emotive vocals.
I dream a willow blowing still / I watch as it’s swept away
A longtime advocate for environmental justice and Queer identity politics, ANOHNI often highlights the intersection of these struggles. In "Breaking", these themes converge as she channels grace and empathy into her lyrics, inviting listeners to confront the discomfort of what we have done to the world around us. By shifting from confrontation to introspection, the track serves as a poignant reminder of the vulnerability we share—with each other and with the earth that sustains us.
"Amazonia" - Gojira
When discussing the climate crisis and its devastating impact on marginalized communities, we cannot ignore the power of metal. Gojira, a French metal quartet known for their activist anthems, exemplifies how metal channels the pain and frustration of both the planet and those on the front lines of environmental destruction.
The band made a mark in the environmental movement with their 2005 single "Global Warming" and continued their advocacy with the powerful 2021 track "Amazonia". The track feels like a cathartic outpouring of frustration, a rallying cry against the slow and inadequate global response to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"Amazonia" pulses with energy, blending indigenous instrumentation with guttural riffs and driving percussions with an unmistakable urgency. Gohira’s rhythm captures the rising tension felt across the world, particularly in the Amazon, where the land and its indigenous communities are being ravaged. Proceeds from Amazonia go to the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (AIPB), an organization dedicated to defending the rights of Indigenous tribes in the Brazilian Amazon.
"takayna" - Goanna
Australian legends Goanna, have released their first new song in a quarter of a century. Titled "takayna", it is both a rallying cry and a heartfelt tribute to the Tarkine rainforest, or takayna, as it is known in the language of the palawa people. This sprawling wilderness in northwest Tasmania, often called the Amazon of Australia, spans half a million hectares of waterways, mountains, and dense biodiversity. The song echoes with urgency, addressing imminent threats posed by mining an flogging projects while celebrating the land’s cultural and ecological significance. Inspired by their participation in a 2021 blockade against a proposed mining site, the band recorded the track live, infusing it with their signature folk-rock blend of organ, guitar, and vocal harmonies to create a sound that follows their legacy of activism to protect the Tarkine.
This is not Goanna’s first stand for Australia’s wild landscapes and indigenous rights. In 1982, their groundbreaking hit “Solid Rock” brought the struggle for Aboriginal land rights into the spotlight, earning them a place in US charts and Australian history. Their 1983 anthem, “Let the Franklin Flow", galvanized opposition to damming the Franklin River, culminating in a landmark High Court devision that saved the river. Released 40 years to the day after that victory, "takayna", underscores the band’s enduring commitment to preserving the natural and cultural heritage of their homeland. It is a love letter to the Tarkine wilderness and a powerful demand for government action.
"Dejáme Respirar" - Bomba Estéreo & Nidia Góngora
This song was released as part of the 2020 documentary Sonic Forest, a collaboration between Bomba Estéreo frontman Simón Mejía, Joaquin Phoenix, and the nonprofit Stand for Trees. The project seeks to raise awareness about deforestation and its devastating impact on Colombia’s landscapes and communities. Bomba Estéreo’s signature sound is deeply rooted in Colombian folk traditions, and Mejía has always viewed music-making as inseparable from activism, drawing artistic inspiration from Indigenous-Colombian and Afro-Colombian sounds.
The Grammy-nominated group is celebrated for its vibrant fusion of traditional Colombian rhythms with electronic beats, creating tracks that invite dancing while amplifying marginalized voices and causes. "Dejáme Respirar" carries this energy forward, confronting the climate crisis directly and vividly depicting the communities most affected by deforestation in Colombia. Sonic Forest is grounded in the sounds of Colombian wilderness—birdsong, rushing waves, and voices from Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. For Mejía, protecting nature is integral to music-making, as his sound draws deeply from Colombia’s landscapes and its painful history of colonialism and conflict.
Dame tu mano (Give me your hand) / Salvar los bosques es la vida salvar (Saving the forests is to save life)
"Dejáme Respirar" transforms these sounds into a powerful rallying cry for peace. Featuring soulful vocals by Nidia Góngora, a singer from the Pacific river village of Timbiquí, the track becomes a poignant plea for the preservation of Colombia’s forests and the lives they sustain.
In many parts of the world, speaking out against climate abusers carries grave risks. Activists face threats, violence, and assassination for defending their lands and the forces of life that sustain them. Despite rising temperatures, intensifying storms, and a global scientific consensus that anthropogenic climate change requires immediate concerted action, governments, corporations, and individuals around the world continue to deny the gravity of the climate crisis. It is no coincidence that music has long been a tool for both resistance and healing. It mirrors the harmony and interdependence we must tap into. In our quest to save a world that holds everything we’ve ever loved, we must reconnect with the natural forces that gave us music in the first place.
We must uplift the voices of those most intensely affected by anthropogenic climate change: Indigenous communities safeguarding ancestral lands, migrants forced to flee uninhabitable homes, and those who stand against extractive industries threatening the delicate balance of ecosystems. In centering these voices in music-making, and calling on music's power for introspection and accountability, sound can be both a rallying cry and a reminder of our collective responsibility to act. In the rhythms of resistance and the melodies of hope, we find a soundtrack for a world worth saving.
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