Some useful information, some anecdotes, some rantings, and some inspiration
from my quest to make my family and perhaps the world around me A Little Greener Every Day

If you look on the newly released singles on iTunes and Amazon today, you’ll find a free song. It’s a reworded, We are the World type-version of the amazing 1987 song, Beds are Burning, originally done by Midnight Oil. The original song was a protest song about the way Australia was treating their aboriginal people.

This reworded version, spearheaded by Bob Geldof, and containing 55 musicians/groups such as Duran Duran, KT Tunstall and The Scorpions, is supposed to be a “giant digital petition” by those who download it. According to the UK Guardian it’s to” raise awareness of the disproportionate affect of global warming on the world’s poorest communities.” It’s part of the Campaign for Climate Justice spearheaded by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annon.

I like the idea. I remember We are the World vividly. I remember watching the video on MTV. I remember it actually made me consider what was going on in Africa. I was in high school at the time and what was going on outside my little town didn’t usually concern me, but the song got my attention.

I also remember the original Beds are Burning vividly. I was in college and I was concerned with what was going on in the world around me. I remember the passion and the anger I felt in the song, and we used to play it loud in our dorm room.

I don’t feel anything when I hear this new version of Beds are Burning. It’s tame. Who knows. Maybe if I wasn’t already knee deep daily in the information about the environment, it might be different. Maybe if it was introducing me to the problem, I’d feel more. As it is, it pales in comparison to the original Beds are Burning.

Still, it’s a giant video petition and if downloading it can send a message to the leaders who gather together in December to rework the Kyoto protocol, it’s worth downloading. Plus, you’re taste in music could be different from mine, and you might like the song.

I looked for a video for the new Beds are Burning, but there doesn’t seem to be one. The best I could find was this YouTube page with various key players in the song doing under ten second spots that remind us “The time is now.” Here is one by Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon.