Is Lisbon the ideal city for an Ocean Aid concert?
Steve Andrews interviewed at a Rock in Rio Lisboa concert
This summer, Lisbon was the city chosen to hold the UN Ocean Conference, a week-long event attended by thousands. Celebrities, including Aquaman star Jason Momoa, and oceanographer, explorer and author Dr Sylvia Earle, were among the many special guest speakers. There was extensive media coverage for the conference in which very great numbers of organisations concerned with saving the seas and the marine life in them took part.
I went along to the event myself and came away feeling inspired, and thinking this: if Lisbon is where a United Nations conference can be held with the theme being saving the oceans, wouldn’t the city also make the perfect place to hold an Ocean Aid rock concert? I came up with the idea of Ocean Aid when I penned my song “Where Does All The Plastic Go?”
I have blogged about it before. I have talked about my idea in any media interviews I have had worldwide. I even have a book with a chapter all about it. Saving Mother Ocean, which was endorsed by Captain Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd, explains how I thought such an event could follow in the footsteps of Live Aid, but this time raising awareness about the many threats to the oceans and to raise funds for charitable organisations working on saving the seas.
I was thinking Lisbon would be perfect, not only for me because I live near the city, but far more importantly, because there are two well-known concert promoters here that stage really big all day outdoor music events. I am talking about Rock In Rio Lisboa and NOS Alive. I have been to Rock In Rio Lisboa concerts in Lisbon. One of the acts I saw here was Bruce Springsteen back in 2016. I mention “The Boss” because he is an example of the type of very high profile rock stars that have performed at a Rock in Rio concert. Concert organisers and promoters like Rock In Rio Lisboa and NOS Alive know what it takes to put on really big events. They know the sort of money that is needed, they know what it takes to successfully run such concerts, they have the right contacts in the music industry. And, again very important, there are parks in Lisbon that can be used to stage these events. In other words, we have it all here, everything that would be needed to put on an Ocean Aid Lisboa concert. I would choose Sea Shepherd to be the charity that funds could be raised for. Mick Jagger, Coldplay and Steven Tyler, are some very big name acts that I know support this organisation. As it happens, Coldplay are already going to be playing four concerts here in Portugal next year. Wouldn’t it be amazing if they also performed an Ocean Aid concert? I need to get my idea to the right people. I have tried sending messages to Rock In Rio and to NOS Alive but no replies as yet. I am sure they get thousands of people contacting them, so I am not that surprised I have had no response. Maybe this blog will get seen by someone from Rock In Rio Lisboa or NOS Alive, maybe some other big concert organiser will see it? If they do, hopefully they will like my idea and will help me make an Ocean Aid concert a reality in Portugal?
Besides the Covid pandemic are we also the victims of a plastic pandemic?
It is worrying enough testing positive for Covid-19 and the pandemic has caused so much suffering and deaths around the world, but what if there is another form of pandemic that people do not know about? I am not talking about one that we can be vaccinated against. What if there is a plastic pandemic, not caused by a virus but by nano-plastics in the bloodstream? I was already well aware that micro-plastics and nano-plastics are being found everywhere, and I mean everywhere, so it didn’t surprise me that plastic has been found in human blood. We are consuming plastic in our food and drink and in the air we breathe. Most of this plastic we cannot see and are unaware of. The scale of this is unknown but it is happening increasingly, and now there are people who have tested positive for plastic. I was recently at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, and there were two guest speakers there who are some of the first people in the world who have gone through the alarming experience of finding they test positive for plastic in their bloodstream. Jo Royle, founder of Common Seas was one of them and Ben Jack, programme director for Common Seas was the other. They know that they are living with plastic circulating in their bodies. Scientists testing for plastic have discovered that as many as 77% of those tested were found to have the material in their blood. It is unknown as to what effect plastic in our bloodstreams can cause. Will the material lodge in organs and tissues, will this cause harm, how will the body attempt to remove the plastic, are some of the questions that spring to mind. Do plastic particles in the blood lead to blood clots? Of course, the main problem is that plastic was made to last forever, it was made so it doesn’t decompose. What it does do is it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, and this is how nano-plastics are eventually formed. The planet has been contaminated by them. Dust fine plastic can be blown in the wind, carried in raindrops, end up on mountain tops and in the ice in polar regions. Plastic pollution is one of the most serious threats to life on this planet. Big pieces get swallowed by animals on land and at sea and can kill the unfortunate creatures, other animals die after getting trapped and entangled in plastic netting, but what harm micro and nano-plastics currently do, or in the long term, we cannot presently say. It is an international problem and we all need to take personal action in any way we can to help tackle the problem of plastic pollution. I took action by writing the song “Where Does All The Plastic Go?” and the book Saving Mother Ocean.
In my song I sing: “Plastic kills the turtles and is eaten by the fish, plastic is in the food chain and the dinner on your dish. Where does all the plastic go, into the sea, into the sea, how did it get there, who threw it away, was it you or was it me?”
“Time For Ocean Aid” was released on 2 February, World Wetlands Day. My song features synth and piano by Crum, who has played in Shockhead, Hawkwind, and The Moonloonies, but now fronts STARRATS. His keyboard wizardry gives my acoustic protest song a space-rock and psychedelic flavour. Psyche-folk is a new genre for my music. Daz, also from STARRATS, has created the music video for “Time For Ocean Aid.” I had recorded the basic acoustic track with the help of Ricardo Verdelho at his VerdelhoStudio in Quinta do Conde in Portugal. The lyrics for “Time For Ocean Aid” were included in my new book, Saving Mother Ocean, which was published on 26 November, 2021, by Moon Books. It tells the story, not only of “Time For Ocean Aid,” but also for my song “Where Does All The Plastic Go?” and how I responded to the call to action I felt. In my songs and book I am hoping to motivate many more people to take action in any way they feel, to help save not only the oceans but the environment, wildlife habitats, and life on Earth! The lyrics are:
We've got to save the birds, we've got to save the bees, We've got to save the forests, we've got to save the seas. When I look at all the mess we've made, I think it's time for ocean aid. Micro-plastic pollution, it's bound to make you think, it is even in the air and the water that we drink. The Amazon has burned so much, Australia's been burning too, Wildfires are the new normal, so what are we gonna do?
We've got to save the birds, we've got to save the bees, We've got to save the forests, we've got to save the seas. When I look at all the mess we've made, I think it's time for ocean aid.
There's an insect Armageddon, a sixth great extinction underway, But keep the economy growing, There's more jobs I hear them say.
We've got to save the birds, we've got to save the bees, We've got to save the forests, we've got to save the seas. When I look at all the mess we've made, I think it's time for ocean aid.
Where are the real world leaders? Please tell me where they are. The ones in the media are just talking more blah-blah.
We've got to save the birds, we've got to save the bees, We've got to save the forests, we've got to save the seas. When I look at all the mess we've made, I think it's time for ocean aid.
“Time For Ocean Aid” is part of my much bigger, in fact mind-bogglingly massive, “Ocean Aid” project. You see, I am hoping that one day there will be a stadium-sized “Ocean Aid” concert, or concerts, with many internationally famous rock and pop acts taking part. It is an international campaign too because the oceans are under threat worldwide. Plastic pollution, overfishing, seabed mining, oil spills, nuclear waste, “dead zones,” coral bleaching, military testing and sonar, as well as, last but certainly not least, climate change, are all taking a heavy toll on marine life and the health of the oceans. I want to raise funds for Sea Shepherd and was honoured by having Captain Paul Watson, who founded Sea Shepherd, endorsing my book Saving Mother Ocean. My message is finding media coverage around the world but I need it to keep on doing so. So far I have been in Filippo Solibello’s book SPAM Stop Plastic A Mare, published in Italy, I’ve been featured twice in The Portugal News, been on the radio in Spain, Ireland and the US, been featured in the GONZO Weekly in England, given coverage in The Wave magazine of the Rotary Club of Wyndham Harbour in Australia. In Wales, the country I was born in, I am delighted to have the full support of Mike Kennedy, who runs SWND Magazine and the SWND Records label. “Ocean Aid” has been featured in a 2-page article in the SWND Magazine.
Please help me spread the word about “Ocean Aid!” It is certainly time for helping to save the seas!
“Ocean Aid” has been an idea, an aim, a developing international project, and now a song. I have talked about “Ocean Aid'' in books, in magazines, a newspaper, on websites, on podcasts and on the radio. “Ocean Aid” has been featured in articles or interviews with me, in Italy, Portugal, Wales, England, Ireland, Spain, Australia, and the USA. Like, I said it is an international project. Italian radio host and author, Filippo Solibello, gave me a 4-page chapter in his book SPAM Stop Plastic A Mare.
He was touring Italy promoting his book and also telling people about my song and ideas. I was looking forward to going over to Italy to join him at some point but then the pandemic struck. Despite lockdowns and restrictions I have kept working doing what I can online and in any media that will give me a platform to spark out on. I am reaching out to people all around the world to take action to help save the oceans and the marine life in them. The idea for “Ocean Aid” originally came to me when I wrote my song “Where Does All The Plastic Go?,” which I recorded and released in 2019.
Everyone will remember “Live Aid” and the massive concert that went under that banner, with many internationally famous acts performing for the event. I thought that ideally a concert of that sort of magnitude could some day take place at a stadium sized venue somewhere. The aim would be to raise awareness of the threats to the ocean, as well as raising funds for a charitable organisation like Sea Shepherd, an organisation that is already working hard at reversing the terrible damage to the seas and marine life in them. I chose Sea Shepherd because I believe it is the organisation most committed to saving the seas, and that it is treating the matter as a top priority. Captain Paul Watson, who founded Sea Shepherd has said: “If the ocean dies, we die.” I started my new book Saving Mother Ocean with this quotation from Captain Paul. It shows how urgently we should all be thinking about what we can do to save the ocean. It is a call to action, as is my book, and songs. I use the plural “songs” because I wrote another, with the title “Time For Ocean Aid.” I have been playing it live and online, and opened an Ocean Aid concert that was performed in Feb, 2021 with the help of the regular singers and musicians from Rew Starr’s ReW & WhO? Show from New York. We raised some funds for Sea Shepherd, and I had seen my idea become an actual reality, even if on a small scale. Since then I have been telling musicians and promoters to organise their own “Ocean Aid” concerts. I want to see this type of event taking place all around the world, because saving the seas really should be a priority around the planet. I recently recorded my song “Time For Ocean Aid” at the Verdelho Studio, in Quinta do Conde, in Portugal, where I am based.
My good friend Crum, formerly of Shockhead, Hawkwind, and the Moonloonies, and now with a new band called STARRATS, very kindly added his keyboard wizard skills to overdub some piano and synthesiser. This has really added to my song and given it a space-rock feel which works well with the basic acoustic protest song. Daz, also from STARRATS, has created a music video to go with it. I will be releasing “Time For Ocean Aid” on 2 February, which is World Wetlands Day, and which seemed an apt time to do this. It really is TIME FOR OCEAN AID!
My new book Saving Mother Ocean is part of the Earth Spirit series from Moon Books and was published on 26 November 2012. It opens with a quote from Captain Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd, and he says: “If the ocean dies, we die.” I chose this quotation when writing my book because it sums up what a serious situation this is. Most people are aware of the plastic pollution problem but there are many more threats to the oceans. Overfishing, seabed mining, acidification, sonar and military testing, nuclear waste dumping, pollution from other sources besides plastic, and climate change, are all taking a heavy toll. Coral reefs are in danger from coral bleaching. I cover all these subjects in my book, taking a look at the problems. I look at solutions too and explain my personal journey, and what taking action has meant for me. Really this is an important part of my message to readers, because I am hoping to inspire as many people as possible to take action that is suited to their lives. We can all do something to help save the seas, and save the environment and life as we know it on this planet. I mention Greta Thunberg several times as an example of a person who decided she had to do all she could and to encourage others to do likewise. In fact, I have devoted a whole chapter, entitled “Let The Children Lead Us” to young activists who have spoken out and made changes in their lives because they felt a calling to do this. Speaking of young people, who are activists, I included 13-year-old Lilly Platt, who is a Global Youth Ambassador and is most famous for her lillysplasticpickup project.
Lilly collects plastic and other litter and displays what she has done on social media. Many people around the world are cleaning up beaches and their local environment, and this is spreading. I talk about how reduction is so important, reduction of the amount of plastic we buy, reduction of the amounts going into the environment, and reduction in all the ways that the consumerist world we live in is destroying nature. I have included the story behind my songs, “Where Does All The Plastic Go?”
and “Time For Ocean Aid” and how I came up with the idea for “Ocean Aid” concerts. I have been getting publicity around the world, for my songs, book and idea. So far Italy, Portugal, Spain, Wales, England, Ireland, Australia, and the US, are the countries that have given me a platform to discuss plastic pollution and other threats to the oceans. Taking action can open all sorts of unexpected doorways. An example of one of these, has resulted in me becoming a Rotarian. The Rotary Club of Wyndham Harbour in Australia discovered me on Instagram and featured me in their The Wave magazine pages 80 and 81. I began attending Rotary meetings online and discovered not only were there many Rotarians keen on listening to what I had to say, but also very many who were environmentalists and activists worldwide. I went on to join ESRAG (Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action). The fact that it was an Australian club that featured me fitted well with how I look at the problem of the threats to Mother Ocean. The oceans do not belong to anyone, we all share them, and depend on them, so the more countries that want to help me raise awareness the better. I am really pleased to be able to announce that Saving Mother Ocean is available from good book suppliers in most parts of the world. Just try Googling it where you are. I am also delighted with the endorsements my book has had, and the reviews that are starting to be shared.
I was honoured to have Captain Paul Watson’s endorsement, which is included on the back cover, and I will leave the last word to him: “Steve Andrews understands that the key to defending and protecting life and diversity in the Ocean is to use what you are good at to find solutions to seemingly impossible problems. The strength of an eco-system depends upon diversity and interdependence within it. By harnessing our passions to the virtues of courage and imagination we can find impossible solutions to seemingly impossible problems. Saving Mother Ocean is inspiring, informative and a call to action by all of us to save the Mother to all of us - the Ocean.”
I am leading the way with songs about plastic pollution with my song Where Does All The Plastic Go? But I also came up with an idea for Ocean Aid Concerts to raise awareness about threats to the oceans and to raise funds for charities that are working on saving the seas and the marine life in them.
Time was ticking by and although many people said what a great idea this is, nothing actual in the way of events was happening. I had had the dream of a massive concert in a stadium somewhere, a concert following in the worthy footsteps of Live Aid with many internationally famous singers, bands and musicians on the bill. It was a very big dream but there’s nothing wrong with that. I was hoping to start with something smaller to help get word out there and eventually this would lead to an Ocean Aid Concert with very big names on the bill. But then came the Covid-19 pandemic and put a stop to so many things. With lockdowns and restrictions the world of music was hit very badly indeed, and as it stands currently even big festivals like Glastonbury have had to be cancelled again. But musicians soon realised that even if they could no longer play on actual stages at offline events they could still play online at live streamed virtual concerts. I started doing this myself and soon befriended a lot of talented singer-songwriters and musicians who are regular performers on Rew Starr’s ReW & WhO? Show from NYC. This year I decided that action needed to be taken to actually get Ocean Aid Concerts really happening. No more talk about it but action! I concluded too that word would soon spread and because plastic pollution is a threat to the oceans and environment worldwide, the more of these concerts the better and the more countries that get involved the better too. In all media coverage this year I am getting, I am talking about Ocean Aid Concerts. I have one planned and many performers from the ReW & WhO? Show are joining me for this. Acts on the bill are myself, Rew Starr, Brute Force, Carol Lester, Donald Black Cat, Joel Landy, Mimsey MacCormack, Dennis Doyle, Tucky Parkis, Yvonne Sotomayor, Rock’n’Roll Johnny Bod, Kenn Rowell, and Marilynn Larkin, Ondine PM.
The concert is taking place on 10 February at 8pm - 10pm UTC (3pm - 5pm EST). I am supporting Sea Shepherd because this organisation is already out there saving the oceans and the marine life in them. It will be livestreamed on several Internet platforms but the best place to find it is here: http://www.hotindiemedia.com/
I had intended using the JustGiving fundraiser website to collect donations for Sea Shepherd but the site is confusing. At one place it claims that users can donate from all around the world and in several currencies, which is why I thought it would work fine, but elsewhere it explains that donations cannot be accepted for charities outside the EU: “You may notice that you’re not able to donate to certain charities outside of the European Union. This is because they adhere to different local laws and may use different payment products which at this time, don’t allow you to make choices about whether or not the charity receiving your donation can see your information.” I had discovered that people in the UK and The Netherlands were unable to donate and this would explain it. I sent a message to JustGiving Support four days ago but they still have not replied. I suppose they don’t know how to when their site contradicts itself!
A friend suggested I tried using GoFundMeCharity, and after some initial problems there, with the help of someone in the site's support department, I now have a campaign site working there. The JustGiving link for donations appears to work for Americans and it can stay, so please use it if you are in the US (Canada may work too and other non-EU countries), but if you are in the UK or EU please donate via this new GoFundMe link.
Many people talk about Mother Earth but I think we should also talk about Mother Ocean, after all, the oceans are where all life began long, long ago, according to science. Today the dangers to marine life are many. Besides plastic pollution, overfishing, agricultural run-off causing dead zones, seabed mining, military testing, acidification, coral bleaching, nuclear waste dumping and climate change are all taking a very heavy toll too. So please support Ocean Aid with your donation and by spreading the word!
