Billy Bragg raises awareness of the imminent threat of global warming on his new single ‘King Tide And The Sunny Day Flood’.
The folk rock star – who has had politics and his activism at the centre of his songwriting during his 30-year career – felt obliged to address the struggles in Florida, California, where people’s livelihoods are being ruined by torrential floods caused by the rise in the sea level due to the melting ice-caps in the Antarctic, after a recent tour of the US.
The ‘California Stars’ hitmaker says people need to "act now" before the rest of the world is succumb to the dangers of the greenhouse effect.
Speaking about the "stark realities" of climate change, Billy said: "Sunny day flooding is a coastal phenomenon in which strong tides cause water to gush up from drains and beneath the ground, swamping basements and inundating roads.
"Rises in sea level due to melting ice-caps are making it an increasingly common occurrence in Florida, where some residential areas are experiencing it on an almost monthly basis.
"These communities are canaries in the mine, already living with the stark realities of climate change that some still deny is happening.
"On a planet the surface of which is 70 per cent water, in which the temperature of oceans drives our weather systems, we will all be affected by global warming unless we act now to limit the damage done."
‘King Tide And The Sunny Day Flood’, which is out now, was recorded in Tottenham, Greater London, and features pedal steel guitar by talented instrumentalist C J Hillman.
Bragg, 59, is set to return to the US this October for a tour and has a tour of Europe in November.
The full list of shows is as follows:
NOVEMBER
3 REYKJAVIK Iceland Airwaves
5 BEXHILL De La Warr Pavilion
6 LONDON Islington Assembly Hall
8 CAMBRIDGE Junction
10 OXFORD O2 Academy
11 BIRMINGHAM Town Hall
12 SHEFFIELD The Leadmill
14 LIVERPOOL Philharmonic Hall
15 EDINBURGH The Queen’s Hall
16 NEWCASTLE Wylam Brewery
18 NOTTINGHAM Rock City
19 CARDIFF Tramshed
21 SOUTHAMPTON The Brook
22 LONDON Clapham Grand
25 ANTWERP De Roma
27 COLOGNE Gloria Theatre
28 BERLIN Heimathafen
29 FRANKFURT Batschkapp
30 HAMBURG Fabrik