This is a guest post from Tara Chattoraj, a student at Wheaton Warrenville South High School and a co-president of Verterra.

Category 6’s are stormin’

Take this as a, take this as a warmmg

Welcome to, welcome to global warming.

[Pitbull – Global Warming (Intro)

In a sentence, music has become one of the most powerful tools a movement can have – more than ever before, and it’s time for us tree-huggers to harness that. Pop culture may be a strong force, but we need to give it a kick in the right direction, and music helps us do that.

It’s true we can’t say we’re really trying something new. After all, our parents listened to Joni Mitchell croon “they paved paradise, put up a parking lot” (Big Yellow Taxi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_UcRbCGmZs) in the ‘60s, long before we were born.

But what’s happening in our generation is different – artists around the world are really taking a stand, letting their “image” fall to the wayside and partnering with essential environmental organizations to make a difference. I mean, Sheryl Crow and Green Day toured and supported StopGlobalWarming.org and Move America Beyond Oil respectively; members of Barenaked Ladies are on the board of the World Wildlife Foundation of Canada; and even Drake’s first headliner tour was with Reverb’s Campus Consciousness Tour… from the All American Rejects to Radiohead, this is the start of a new age for environmentalism in pop culture – an age where the power of pop culture is finally harnessed by driven environmental organizations.

And when I say “artists around the world”, I mean it. When you hear the remake of Beds are Burning (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBTZOg6l6cA), with artists like Fergie, Eric Serra, Duran Duran, and Lily Allen, you can feel the raw power that artists can have when they partner their audience with environmentalists. It’s like rubbing 5 years of grub off your glasses – suddenly you can see what you’re working towards. You can see its possibility and necessity. It’s an injection of pure hope, a rush, the kind that can only come from being a part of the solution.

That kind of reaction, that’s why music is so powerful – it moves people. It’s not just something you hear – it’s physical, emotional, and it makes you think without triggering the putting-up-walls reflex. That’s the beauty of art. It’s personal, and yet it reaches a huge audience. It takes so little time to enjoy, and yet it can have a huge impact on a person’s mindset. It makes saving the planet everyone’s goal by reaching people on the deepest levels of their souls, and the best part? We can all help in our own way.

So, whether it’s Mr. Worldwide rapping, Green Day singing, or me writing a blog, we’re channeling our creativity for a cause – to save our planet, and I’ll bet you a renewable energy credit that if we all work together, we can make being green a worldwide movement. It starts today, and it starts with you.

The time has come to take a stand

It’s for the Earth it’s for our land

The time has come a fact’s a fact

The heat is on, no turning back

[Time for Climate Justice Campaign, Beds are Burning