Climate Choir Flash Mob in Parliament

A guest blog by Steph Howlett and June Cattell

MP’s stood amazed as a Climate Choir flash “mob” serenaded them in Parliament. Five women from the Sheffield Climate Choir travelled to London on 7th March to join 12 other choirs in the Climate Choir Movement. Outraged by the UK government’s decision to give the green light to Rosebank, the biggest undeveloped oil and gas field in the North Sea, the singers took their protest to the seat of government to face politicians with the environmental damage that will be caused if Rosebank goes ahead.

The protest was carefully choreographed, dividing the 200 singers into two choirs. One choir stood conspicuously across the road from the Houses of Parliament as a decoy, holding colourful placards and banners while regaling any passing politicians and the general public with climate protest songs in impressive four-part harmony, “No pollution is the only solution” and “The climate’s changing, what’re we doing about it?”.  Meanwhile, the other half of the singers were queuing unobtrusively to go into the Houses of Parliament amongst the tourists. The security guards were somewhat apologetic about the long wait to get in due to the unusually large influx of visitors. 

Once everyone had made it into the fine entrance hall inside the Houses of Parliament, a member of the choir, a retired architect, invited people to gather around him for a brief talk about the hall’s gothic architecture. This was the cue for Kate Honey, the musical director,  to lead people in a rousing rendition of “Stop Rosebank, Stop Rosebank”, a creative, urgent and peaceful call to stop the drilling, to the music of the Hallelujah Chorus. The security guards were unimpressed by the beautiful singing and the choir was ushered out, still singing, to join the decoy choir across the road. The entire choir then continued singing on College Green, and outside 55 Tufton Street, home to several right-wing think tanks, to pass on their message there.

Rosebank will be developed by the Norwegian oil and gas giant, Equinor, which holds an 80% stake. Equinor is set to receive around £3 billion in tax breaks from the UK government to develop the field, which means that UK taxpayers will effectively cover over 90% of the drilling costs, while Equinor takes the profit. So Rosebank will make Equinor and Norway richer, and the UK poorer. The oil extracted will be put in tankers and taken to Europe to be refined and the UK will buy it back at world market prices.  As many politicians suggest, it does not increase the country’s resilience and will not lower oil and gas prices. The approval for drilling has been condemned by environmental campaigners, celebrities and people from all walks of life across the political spectrum. 

The Climate Choirs Movement was founded in Bristol in the autumn of 2022 and uses singing in peaceful and eye-catching actions, to protest against the government and corporate giants who are driving the ever worsening climate crisis. The movement has grown rapidly and now has over 700 members in choirs around the country. They have organised flash choirs in museums funded by fossil fuels corporations, in corporate AGMs, and have sung in Cathedrals, outside courts, and in the heart of the City of London.

Jo Flanagan, co-founder of the Climate Choir Movement, said “Singing has always been a tool of peaceful protest. The Climate Choir Movement sings truth to power in a beautiful, harmonious way that can hopefully change hearts and minds. We take our united voices to where they can have the most impact, whether in the corridors of power inside the House of Commons or to corporations financing and insuring vast deforestation and fossil fuel projects. In creative,  peaceful protest performances we seek to make the world a better place, where our natural living world – our home – can thrive.”

Judy Harris, one of the Sheffield singers explained “Our message to the government is to stop extracting fossil fuels. You know the contribution  fossil fuels are making to global warming, so  invest in renewables which are cheaper and safer, and start tackling climate change to care for our environment for future generations”  

“The Hallelujah chorus is a stunning piece of music and it was wonderful to hear our voices echo through the great hall. We find that song is a very effective way to get our message across. People stop and listen and can enjoy the music and hear our message.”

Hilary Rosser continued, “We need to hold our politicians to account, particularly in this election year. This year for the first time global warming has exceeded a temperature rise of 1.5 degrees over twelve months. The government knows full well the impact that fossil fuels have on the climate but they continue to financially support the oil companies rather than investing in renewables.

“We will continue to help develop the Climate Choir Movement and sing our truth about the climate crisis, in Sheffield as well as joining with other choirs throughout the country”.

If you are interested in joining the choir please contact sheffield@climatechoirmovement.org. The only qualification needed is a commitment to protest about the climate and biodiversity crises through song.