Burnham, don’t Burn ‘em – refuse Rosebank, resist heatwaves!
13 September 2026: A peaceful singing flashmob popped up at thronging Liverpool Street Station with a message for Prime Minister Andy Burnham: stop Rosebank drilling for oil and reject the proposed new North Sea oil field. Singers came together from numerous regional climate choirs to perform specially adapted choral music, bringing a message about the climate emergency to one of London’s busiest public spaces. Busy commuters paused to listen to the song Burnham Gotta Cancel Rosebank whose lyrics include ‘Heatwaves! Heatwaves! Fossil fuels are causing heatwaves’.
Following the song choir members chatted with passers-by if they were not in too much of a hurry about the facts: Rosebank oil would be exported rather than used to reduce UK energy bills. Burning its reserves would produce more CO₂ than the combined annual emissions of the 28 lowest-income countries. People deserve to know!
The impassioned plea: Prime Minister, you have a choice. You can listen to the fossil-fuel industry, or you can listen to the science and to the millions of people who are calling for Rosebank to be stopped. Be brave, be radical and wise, use your new powers to act for everyone’s health and safety now.
Rewild Your Green and Pleasant Land!
27 June 2026: Fifty singers gathered outside Lambeth Palace where Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally is in residence, singing ‘Church of England: Rewild Your Land!’ The Climate Choir then processed to Westminster Abbey, singing with full heart. They handed out letters to the clergy who came to listen, encouraging them to vote for the ‘Protecting Nature on Church Commissioner-owned Land’ motion at the Church of England’s General Synod.
The motion calls on the Church to support the restoration of nature on 30% of Church land by 2030. In this the Church would be a beacon of action, protecting biodiversity and combatting climate breakdown. The event was organised with Wild Card, a grassroots rewilding campaign, whose co-founder Hazel Draper said: “Rewilding Church land could become one of the most inspiring environmental commitments made by any major institution in the UK.” The C of E is one of the UK’s largest landowners, with an estate of more than 100,000 acres. Protecting 30% of Church land for nature restoration could be cost-neutral and even profitable, as well as yielding uncountable rewards for the health of the biosphere. The Church has already shown moral leadership through fossil fuel divestment – now’s the time to lead the way with land rewilding.
Happy 100th Birthday Sir David Attenborough!
8 May 2026: Bristol, Forest of Dean, Kentucky, London, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Zimbabwe Climate Choirs took part in a music video to celebrate Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday. Supported by Brian Eno and Peter Townsend, this project involved choirs from all over the world, each singing and recording the song ‘Natural World’ by Pete M. Wyer.
End Tree Burning Subsidies!
30 April 2026: As Spring reached its zenith park visitors were astonished to see a line of trees processing through St James’s Park London serenaded by singers and a brass quartet . They were calling for an end to huge UK government subsidies for biomass energy produced by the company Drax, whose AGM was taking place nearby. Analysts estimate that Drax received close to £1 billion in subsidies in 2025. Later the choir gathered outside Drax’s offices in Noble Street to get the message across.
Many of the plane trees in St James’s Park were planted in the 1820s and have stood for over 200 years. Drax has been accused of felling precious ancient trees of similar vintage to make wood pellets. The choir performed original songs including “We Need the Trees” and “Stop Burning Trees” to call for
An end to government subsidies for burning wood for electricity
Greater transparency around biomass sourcing
A transition towards genuinely low-carbon energy systems that protect forests and biodiversity
As the UK navigates the path to net zero the choices made today will shape environmental outcomes for generations to come.
Our Switch Your Bank Campaign launches in Bristol
17 January 2026: Members of the Bristol Climate Choir sang a rousing rendition of “We’re Gonna Switch Our Bank” outside Barclays in Broadmead. The performance aims to encourage the public to switch to banks with more ethical and environmentally friendly policies. The action, a collaboration with the youth-led banking campaign SWITCHED, comes in response to growing concerns about the role of financial institutions in supporting industries that contribute to climate change. SWITCHED’s mission is to empower people to make a difference by moving their money away from banks with harmful environmental practices to those supporting climate-positive investments. The song performed is a catchy and upbeat anthem inspired by the Netflix hit film KPop Demon Hunters.
No Tidings of Comfort and Joy: Calling Out Norway’s Fossil Fuel Hypocrisy
4 December 2025: The Norwegian state owns 67% of Equinor, the multinational that continues to push oil and gas production. Their energy minister Terje Aasland has shamed Ed Miliband in the UK press for not being pro-oil enough. So to signal discontent at this bleak state of affairs Three Kings, accompanied by singers, travelled far to offer three ‘Rosebank gifts’ at the door of the Norwegian Embassy. The gifts consisted of millions of tons of carbon dioxide, a hurricane, and a devastated ocean. Not carols but protest songs rang out at the embassy door which opened onto astonished embassy staff. Afterwards the Climate Choir went to Trafalgar Square for the lighting of the Norwegian spruce tree. Songs rang out from the National Gallery steps: O Christmas Tree and Stop Rosebank. Despite most Norwegian citizens being green-minded their government is not. It is actively sabotaging the world’s efforts to reach net zero. Christmas is a time of giving and it’s time the Norwegian state started giving instead of taking from the oceans and the air.
Moving Music in Manchester Museum
22 November 2025: We were thrilled to collaborate with Manchester’s Ryebank singers at EarthSonic Live, an event bringing a fabulous range of talks and music sharing stories of nature, climate, and biodiversity. Climate Movement singers from Sheffield, Nottingham, Wyre Forest, Oxford, Bristol and London popped up across the museum, singing to the more-than-human diversity of our world, at times under the skeleton of a sperm whale! A workshop led by Kai Honey, our musical director, took themes of singing as emotional resilience, meaning-making and community building. Participants had a great time learning the Ryebank Song, which they will no doubt be singing all the way home after a packed, enlivening and moving day. (Lyrics)
People Power at King’s Cross and St Pancras stations
17 September 2025: Flash mob sings No drilling in the North Sea! The Climate Choir is determined to get the message across that fossil fuel fields for profiteering corporations must NOT be allowed. Climate Choir singers mingled with passengers at London railway stations, then burst into song with Stop Rosebank!, joining with campaigners from Uplift and Stop the Rosebank Oilfield to amplify the call. The piano in the departure hall was played by composer Kai Honey. The protest highlights the actions of the UK government in going along with actions of Norwegian company Equinor, which were ruled unlawful. The company has reapplied for drilling permission. The Climate Choir’s last major action on this urgent issue was inside the Houses of Parliament last year and a prior event took place on 6 September by Bristol’s harbourside. Instead of a destructive trajectory that depletes the earth for the short-term gain of the few and huge suffering for the many, options for green energy MUST be the focus. We care about our planet. [Lyrics]
Riversong: Save the Wye
24 May 2025: Over a hundred climate choir singers massed by the River Wye to join with others protesting the appalling pollution of its waters in recent years by farms expelling harmful waste. The River Goddess towered majestically over the bankside with Lady Wye as songs rang out. Welsh Water was named in one song as a supposed guardian of water quality and Nandos and Cargill as examples of companies profiting from mass production chicken farming practices that damage rivers. In a moving river ceremony children and adults brought jars of water from their local rivers and lakes all around Britain to be blessed and to pledge the crucial importance of protecting the cleanliness of our waterways. The Climate Choirs’ songs included the angry Why Wye Wye and the lyrical Flow Wandering River. Singers gave a heartfelt farewell to Jo Flanagan whose huge inspiration and hard work has grown the movement from seeds three years ago to the vibrant body it is now. Jo is stepping down to take a well-earned rest. She hands over to an energetic well established core team.
Rewild Church Land: singing in St Paul’s Cathedral
1st March 2025: Birds fluttered beneath the great dome as singers from around the country lifted their voices to the skies. Church of England Rewild Your Land* echoed statements from the church authorities saying we must steward the beautiful world and protect its gifts. The organisation Wild Card is calling for the Church Commissioners to rewild 30% of the 105 thousand acres they own by 2030 https://wildcard.land/campaigns/rewild-the-church Does Not Nature Cry Out** is a heartfelt plea to spiritual leaders to step up to the lectern and make their voices heard and act now for life in all its magnificent diversity. Our action proclaimed what has been well understood for centuries and well before Christopher Wren laid the first stone: “Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky”. We have no time to lose – eternity is in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower.
* by Ruth Routledge ** by Sally Davies