Pathway to Paris: Music Fuels the Climate Movement

September 12, 2018

We love the music. We love the energy. We love the mission. We love how every year this event brings us all together to fight for a 100% renewable-energy future. Yes, we’re talking about Pathway to Paris!

You’ve come along to this remarkable event with us for a few years now. Well, this year’s version—September 14 in San Francisco—promises to be just as powerful and just as inspiring. After all, where else can you help save the world while listening to some of the world’s greatest artists, activists, and musicians?

The Lineup

We admit that it can be easy to let news about the climate get you down. But that’s exactly why we love Pathway to Paris so much! Few things inspire and bring people together more joyously and effectively than music. At the San Francisco show, you’ll see Patti Smith, Bob Weir, Flea, Eric Burdon, a bunch of special guests, and a whole host of artists and climate leaders (like Bill McKibben).

Come for an evening of unforgettable music. Go home inspired and motivated to join the climate movement! Not a bad night on the town: Great music, powerful community, and a chance to change the world.

Paris and Beyond

Pathway to Paris was founded by musician/activists Jesse Paris Smith and Rebecca Foon in 2014. The first concert took place in New York City just after the huge People’s Climate March in September of that year. There was another all-star show in Paris, coinciding with the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21), in 2015 to rally support for the Paris Climate Agreement.

Ah, Paris! That agreement achieved something rare and wonderful: global consensus. 195 countries signed and 179 have ratified it. And even though President Trump pulled the US out of the agreement, the world continues its crucial work toward lowering carbon emissions and creating a renewable-energy future. In fact, many cities, states, and countries don’t think Paris goes far enough, so they’re looking to reduce emissions by even greater amounts than the agreement calls for. 

Local Action, Global Impact

Pathway to Paris’s cofounders, along with 350.org, are all about highlighting how action on the local level can help us blow right past the Paris Agreement’s goals.

At last year’s show in New York City, they launched the 1000 Cities campaign, an initiative that’s working to recruit at least 1000 cities to go off fossil fuels entirely by 2040. (Local shoutout!: Burlington, Vermont, has already done it!) 1000 Cities harnesses the power of local action to create worldwide change.

Music Fuels the Movement

The Pathway to Paris concerts, similarly, harness the power of music and art to build community and inspire action. This year’s event, in San Francisco, is planned to coincide with the Global Action Summit, a gathering of climate leaders and activists to review climate successes and draft plans for achieving even more.

Can you feel it? There’s so much energy, there’s so much momentum. From the streets to conference halls and concert halls, the world is coming together to demand change. Yes, the climate crisis is real—but so is the urgent commitment to fighting it shared by so many artists, activists, musicians, writers, politicians, business leaders, and ordinary citizens all around the globe.

Everyone has a role to play in creating a fossil fuel-future. Come to Pathway to Paris and get inspired:

• Friday, September 14, 2018
• Doors open 6:00 pm, show starts 7:00 pm PST
• The Masonic, San Francisco, CA
• Buy your tickets here!
• Or tune in to our Facebook livestream!