3. Greg Briner - I Think the Climate’s Changed (420 ppm Remix)

Let's link, re-think
How we power our economies
Using low-carbon technologies to cut GHGs

Do more with less
Innovate our way out of this mess
Using all of our creativeness
It's good for business
We can do this

I think the climate's changed
Getting hot in here, talks are shifting gear
What are we waiting for?
We need action now, can't delay no more

Phase out all these
Distorting fossil fuel subsidies
Pay for dirty externalities, it's not easy

Price CO2
At a level that changes what we do
With emissions trading and taxes too
Can't afford not to
It's true

I think the climate's changed
The reports are clear, it's already here
Do you feel the same?
Only get one bet in this climate game

Pink badge, tired eyes
Informal informals and SBIs
Reading non-papers until sunrise
Time flies

Dig deep, let's keep
The oil in the soil and the coal in the hole
'Cause we know that we can't burn it all
That's what the science says
Got to change our ways

I think the climate's changed
Getting hot in here, talks are shifting gear
What are we waiting for?
We need action now, can't delay no more

I think the climate's changed
Something's in the air, signs are everywhere
Can you feel it too?
Need to think long-term though it's hard to do

Wind and wave and solar
Fossil age is over
Greener shoots are growing
Signs of change are showing

Wind and wave and solar
Fossil age is over
Greener shoots are growing
Signs of change are showing

I think the climate's changed (wind and wave and solar)
(Fossil age is over)
(Greener shoots are growing)
(Signs of change are showing)

What are we waiting for? (Wind and wave and solar)
(Fossil age is over)
(Greener shoots are growing)
(Signs of change are showing)

I think the climate's changed (wind and wave and solar)
(Fossil age is over)
(Greener shoots are growing)
(Signs of change are showing)

What are we waiting for? (Wind and wave and solar)
(Fossil age is over)
(Greener shoots are growing)
(Signs of change are showing, yeah)

Sample credits: UN Climate Change, Andres Pirazzoli

I originally wrote this song in 2015 in the run up to the COP 21 climate change conference in Paris. It was the UN's "Climate Song of the Week" in October 2015. I started working on an updated version in February 2023 when the monthly average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 420 parts per million (ppm).

Here's a brief explanation of some of the climate policy jargon used in the song:
GHGs = Greenhouse gases
Externalities = A term used by economists to refer to the costs (or benefits) of an activity that are not incurred by the person or business doing the activity, such as the damage caused by emitting greenhouse gases
Pink badge = A reference to the pink name badges worn by national government delegates at UN climate change conferences (Observer organisations have green badges, NGOs have yellow ones, and UN officials have blue ones)
Informal informals = A discussion between climate negotiators that's not part of the formal negotiations
SBI = Subsidiary Body for Implementation
Non-paper = A type of informal note produced at UN climate change conferences

I recorded the sample at the end of the song at a march for climate action in Wellington in 2019.

This song is dedicated to all the people out there working tirelessly to ensure that future generations inherit a habitable planet.