- Title: Plastic waste drives young G7 protester to rap for change
- Date: 11th June 2021
- Summary: FALMOUTH, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 11, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF YOUNG DEMONSTRATORS HOLDING CLIMATE CHANGE PROTEST OUTSIDE MEDIA CENTRE FOR G7 SUMMIT RAPPER, SUNNYJIM, PERFORMING HIS RHYME TITLED "PLASTIC WRAP" YOUNG PROTESTER LISTENING SUNNYJIM PERFORMING RHYME (SOUNDBITE) (English) RAPPER AND ACTIVIST, SUNNYJIM, SAYING: "Packets scattered on the grass and a mask underneath. Another empty lighter, a broken charging wire, and the ones in my eyes that help me read. A synthetic library of knowledge in the palm of your hand. But how can you expand when your head's in the sand. Slogans draw the adverse eyes in, logos tattooed to your eyelids. Have you ever stopped to think why they call it a brand? New gadgets every year, more plastics still appear in this throwaway society where sobriety is feared. Addicted to packaging, unboxing isn't talented - just another way for companies to bring the rabbits here." POSTER WITH PHOTO OF NATURALIST AND ENVIRONMENTAL CAMPAIGNER DAVID ATTENBOROUGH (SOUNDBITE) (English) RAPPER AND ACTIVIST, SUNNYJIM, SAYING:: "Ecological breakdown is still happening all around us. Plastic consumption and use is going up every year. More sealife and cetaceans are dying every year and we seem to be doing nothing about it. And they host these meetings in private, where we can't even see what they're discussing, and they decide what's going to happen and the shape of the world. And, especially after the last year, I don't trust them to shape the world. So I think the people need more of a say." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS WITH PLACARDS POLICE OFFICER STANDING BY (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER ADDRESSING RALLY, SAYING (English) (CONTINUES OVER TWO SHOTS): "You praise Boris Johnson for these new climate policies, yet he flies across the country to a climate summit. Can you not see the hypocrisy. Can we please see that these people don't actually care, but they need to, and that's why G7 is so important. There are some people, leaders of some of the wealthiest countries here, who have the power to really make a difference for the people on the frontlines of the climate crisis. There are typhoons on their doorsteps, there are floods, there are fires. This is not just something they can just forget about, or put off for 20, 50 years' time. This is their reality, their living nightmare." PROTESTERS CLAPPING / T-SHIRT ON PROTESTER READING (English): "DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING BILLIONAIRES TELL YOU" PROTESTERS HOLDING PLACARDS AND BANNER PLACARD READING (English): "G7 LEADERS WE ARE WATCHING"
- Embargoed: 25th June 2021 14:22
- Keywords: G7 climate protest rapper
- Location: FALMOUTH, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: FALMOUTH, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Europe,G7,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001EGYKN5Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:As the G7 summit gets underway on the southern tip of the UK, a group of young people descended on the venue where the world's media are covering the event.
Among them was 25-year-old rapper and activist Jimmy Hall.
It was when he was clearing a beach of plastic debris that Hall felt he had to put into words his sense of despair at the growing environmental crisis facing his generation.
Hall, who performs under the name SunnyJim, was speaking to Reuters after delivering his "Plastic Wrap" rhyme to around 30 young demonstrators who gathered outside the G7 media centre in Falmouth.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, U.S. President Joe Biden and the other G7 leaders were meeting 25 miles away in the seaside resort of Carbis Bay for a three-day summit, at which
they will discuss their plans to slow climate change.
Hall is currently studying for a masters degree in marine environmental management.
In his rap, he laments the consumer-driven economy and the waste products it produces.
(Production: Natalie Thomas) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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