{"id":10222,"date":"2020-01-18T17:57:27","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T17:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/?p=10222"},"modified":"2020-01-18T17:58:55","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T17:58:55","slug":"the-tipping-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/2020\/01\/the-tipping-point\/","title":{"rendered":"The tipping point"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I think most people would agree that the biggest thing on our collective agenda is Climate Change.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is a matter of profound gravitas and complexity that requires all of our intelligence, wisdom and ability to find macro and micro solutions from changing government policies, business and industry practices to\u00a0conscious and mindful actions as private individuals.<\/p>\n

Honorary recycling is not enough anymore.\u00a0\u00a0Where possible, we need to eat local, up- cycle, think consciously about how we travel, what we buy, consume, how we do business and how we keep one another encouraged to make a difference, however small. And, probably, because I am not an expert \u2013 a host of other things that could make a difference too.<\/p>\n

There was something about those walruses in David Attenborough\u2019s recent series that really got me. Those desperate great big bodies with nowhere to rest because climate change and rising water levels have taken their usual resting places. All of those bodies just falling, sadly and uselessly to their deaths from the cliffs of an island because there was simply no room for all of them.<\/p>\n

They became a bit of a visual metaphor for me of the effects of climate change, and perhaps a prophetic image for other creatures and some humans around the world.<\/p>\n

Much of the change needs to happen on a macro scale \u2013 governments and corporations need to put their brightest minds and conciliatory specialists into creating new systemic structures that work without the effect of creating more social\u00a0imbalances. On a small personal level we can tinker round the edges with\u00a0various initiatives that fit our personal situations and lives.<\/p>\n

Extinction Rebellion<\/h2>\n

Sometimes we can feel that there is little we can do- but growing in our midst is a movement which echoes the social justice movements of the past, that created needed change at the time. The suffragette movement, the movement against racism and apartheid. This movement is Extinction Rebellion which has mushroomed around the world. It is the one avenue that I can see that ordinary people can lend their voice to in order to put pressure upon our slothful, self-interested capitalistic blinkered governments. If enough of us give our voices then the pressure builds on the systems of power to take notice and accelerate change for the better.<\/p>\n

I have only, so far, been to one local Extinction Rebellion meeting so I am no great expert. But its tenets \u2013 read out at the meeting \u2013 are fair, inclusive and aim to be non-religious, not aligned to any political party. What is particularly\u00a0attractive to me is its emphasis on the Gandhian principles of non-violence.\u00a0\u00a0A group that is about the care of the planet and all who live on her\u00a0has to have non-violence written into any of its actions, otherwise it would be a hypocritical paradox.<\/p>\n

The red rebels in\u00a0the extinction rebellion protests\u00a0serve as an artistic and poetic mimed metaphor\u00a0to bring us back from anger to mindfulness, from destruction to pathos. I am also hoping that this platform of humanitarian and environmental protest can be a space where other art forms with meaning can be showcased.<\/p>\n

As a songwriter, there is something I can do beyond my recycling once a week. I can write a song. So, here is my song to encourage the listener to add their voice to\u00a0the mass that are calling for change to environmental policies on a global scale. If enough of us join in, then we will reach a point when the powers that be are forced to act \u2013 that point is called \u201cThe Tipping Point\u201d. Ironically, there is also a tipping point for climate change when eco systems stop working and negative loops of increasing heat etc are created. So, we need to reach one tipping point before we reach the other.<\/p>\n

TIPPING POINT<\/h3>\n

Chorus<\/p>\n

T-T-Tears falling<\/p>\n

Oceans rising<\/p>\n

A tipping point for us all<\/p>\n

To fall, fall, fall<\/p>\n

Or rise, rise anew- and stand tall.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

V1<\/p>\n

The map is shrinking<\/p>\n

As pieces of puzzle fall<\/p>\n

Ice to water: land to sea<\/p>\n

No place, no place, for them or me.<\/p>\n

Oh Ah EE Ay EE Oh ( In two part harmony)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Repeat Chorus<\/p>\n

V2<\/p>\n

The clock is ticking<\/p>\n

The timer has all but gone<\/p>\n

Deserts grow, forests burn<\/p>\n

No-where, No- where, for them or me.<\/p>\n

Oh Ah EE Ay EE Oh ( two part harmony)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Repeat Chorus<\/p>\n

V3<\/p>\n

The land is thirsty<\/p>\n

Migrations as species fall<\/p>\n

Crops to dust, rootless, homeless<\/p>\n

Everywhere, No- where, Somewhere, for them or me.<\/p>\n

Oh Ay EE Ay EE Oh (two part harmony)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Small instrumental Break<\/p>\n

V4<\/p>\n

But life is beating<\/p>\n

Our blood is rising, searching for unity<\/p>\n

Together we stand or together we\u2019ll fall<\/p>\n

One world, our world, a home for us all (this line in two part harmony)<\/p>\n

Starting point<\/h2>\n

Some of my songs have experimental and unusual ideas for instrumentation. This one really doesn\u2019t! I want it to be a song that a performer\/singer shares with the audience\/protestors. The chorus is actually the starting point which we return to and is for everyone to sing along to. Each verse ends with a simple two part harmony for everyone to do. I imagine all the men taking the lower part and the women the upper part. It would be easy to teach as you went along. It is in E minor, is simple and folky and I imagine simple guitars and possibly a violin for instrumentation. Basically, instruments that are not difficult to move if this is a song that is performed in the streets. The last verse has a slight alteration in the melody to represent hopeful change.<\/p>\n

I am going to a small party tomorrow night of friends who have been tracking my song-writing journey \u2013 I am going to take it along with me and teach it to them. Many of them are also key members of the local Extinction Rebellion meeting so perhaps they have ideas of how I could further use it. Perhaps it will go further than the local town- I hope so. I hope it can be used in whatever way to create the positive \u2018Tipping Point\u201d of pressure on the government rather than the negative one of environmental cycles that have fallen apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is one small action that I can personally do…<\/p>\n

First published on Abi’s World of Music<\/a> site<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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