By Cat Tuong/CHANGE/350Vietnam

Music has the magic power to connect and educate people, evoke inspiration, motivate actions as well as to heal the wounded souls. Climate change in Vietnam is still a complicated and hard-to-understand issue but its impacts are getting serious nationwide. On seeking a creative way to inspire people and call to actions for a variety of issues relevant to climate change, CHANGE/350Vietnam has developed strong networks and relationships with many Vietnamese artists and celebrities and utilized their talents and influence to touch the wide public.

The Australian/Vietnamese award-winning singer-songwriter/producer/educator/social entrepreneur, Thanh Bui, has been an ambassador of 350 Vietnam. He was a member of the Vietnamese team to join the Global Power Shift in Istanbul, Turkey in the year 2013 and ‘rocked’ the whole summit with the song “350 Celebration”. Since then, he joined numerous large events and campaigns of 350 Vietnam: I am a Climate Citizen, Vietnam Power Shift, “Power Up” Climate Action Festival, “I can’t” …, just to name a few. This year Thanh Bui is making an outstanding comeback to the 350 global moment by collaborating with CHANGE/350Vietnam to produce a compelling music video “Rise for Climate” to inspire and encourage thousands of Vietnamese young people to start their climate change initiatives by joining in the RISE Mobilization on 8 September, and leading their own community-based projects to raise the awareness on climate change and advocate for a 100% renewable energy future for Vietnam.

We had a chance to catch up with him for a quick interview.

Why do you decide to take lead in this MV project?

As an artist/singer-songwriter, I believe in the power of music and the arts to share a message to the public. I feel very strongly about protecting the environment as it is no doubt, one of the greatest factors that can affect my children’s future – we have already seen the destruction of Climate Change over the past few years around the world, and it has also affected Vietnam. Vietnam must ‘wake up’ to the imminent threat of Climate Change, and I take it upon myself as a public figure to have greater responsibility in sharing this message, and I hope that through this MV project, that we can raise the awareness of Climate Change in Vietnam.

What do you think about the role of music and art in tackling climate change and other environmental issues?

Global issues are at times, very difficult for all of us to grapple with, hence, I believe that through the medium of music and the arts, that a complicated message can be delivered in a subtler and engaging way, where it can touch people and awaken emotions, as a call-for-action.

We have seen this happen throughout the years for other world issues.

Most of the participants in the MV are young people. What is your expectation about the role of the young Vietnamese in tackling climate change?

Given the young population of Vietnam, there is not a doubt that the future lies in the hands of our young people. As adults, I hope we can educate and ‘arm’ our next generation with as much knowledge and awareness as possible to the issues that will affect them in the future.

But what I am inspired by in Vietnam, is the proactiveness and the willingness of our young people to take charge – Vietnam has never been as connected to the world as it is today through technology, so the youth understand the issues more than ever before, and are taking it upon themselves to determine their futures, and I expect nothing less from them, than to tackle Climate Change head-on and to lead the fight in saving the environment and taking preventative measures to reduce the human effects on the environment which is causing Climate Change.

I believe so strongly in the next generation of this country.

Together with the music video launch, CHANGE/350Vietnam will collaborate with the Soul Music and Performing Arts Academy to organize a song cover contest with the aims of popularizing the song among the Vietnamese public as well as mobilizing more people for the grassroots climate and energy movement in Vietnam.

 

Watch the music video  

Please share it with hashtag #RiseforClimate