Choirs For Ecocide Law
Basic information
Project Title
Choirs For Ecocide Law
Full project title
Choirs For Ecocide Law - Let´s change the rules
Category
Reconnecting with nature
Project Description
Choirs for Ecocide Law is an artistic choral project, whose main purpose is to spread awareness about the need to add an international law on natural destruction (Ecocide Law) to the Rome Statute.
Choirs for Ecocide Law offers a tool for singers to act in their own community via singing and provides a sixty minute pop-music concert program, "Let us change the rules!", ready to be rehearsed and performed
by any choir in the world – for free. The project has been created for free, voluntary.
Choirs for Ecocide Law offers a tool for singers to act in their own community via singing and provides a sixty minute pop-music concert program, "Let us change the rules!", ready to be rehearsed and performed
by any choir in the world – for free. The project has been created for free, voluntary.
Geographical Scope
Cross-border/international
Project Region
CROSS-BORDER/INTERNATIONAL: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Great Britan
Urban or rural issues
Mainly urban
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
EU Programme or fund
No
Description of the project
Summary
CHOIRS FOR ECOCIDE LAW - is an artistic choral project, whose main purpose is to spread awareness about the need to add an international law on natural destruction (Ecocide Law) to the Rome Statute, alongside the international criminal laws that came into force earlier. Ecocide is broadly understood to mean mass damage and destruction of ecosystems – severe harm to nature which is widespread or long-term.
Choirs for Ecocide Law offers a tool for singers to act in their own community via singing and provides a sixty minute concert program, "Let us change the rules!", ready to be rehearsed and performed by any choir in the world – for free.
The project provides a package of 15 popular music style songs, composed by diverse international composers, ready to be rehearsed and performed by different choirs around the world - for FREE.
The pedagogical aim is that while practicing the music and it ́s storyline, the participants go through a learning process, including discussions about ecocide-law. This work leads to the concert, where the choir passes “the challenge of acting for ecocide law” to the audience. At the time of writing, we already have 52 choirs signed in from Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, Netherlands, Lithuania.
Choirs For Ecocide Law project was published at the World Symposium on Choral Music, Istanbul, April 2023 by the core group Merzi Rajala, Kirsi Kaunismäki-Suhonen and Peder Karlsson. The entire work has been created as a non-profit, free volunteer work by artists and the working team. The project is not politically committed. The European Choral Association (ECA), Stop Ecocide International and several choral organizations from different countries support the project. The patron of the project is the former president of Finland, Tarja Halonen.
Based on our research of the test choirs process, participating the project really changed the perspectives of the participants towards global ecological sustainability.
Choirs for Ecocide Law offers a tool for singers to act in their own community via singing and provides a sixty minute concert program, "Let us change the rules!", ready to be rehearsed and performed by any choir in the world – for free.
The project provides a package of 15 popular music style songs, composed by diverse international composers, ready to be rehearsed and performed by different choirs around the world - for FREE.
The pedagogical aim is that while practicing the music and it ́s storyline, the participants go through a learning process, including discussions about ecocide-law. This work leads to the concert, where the choir passes “the challenge of acting for ecocide law” to the audience. At the time of writing, we already have 52 choirs signed in from Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, Netherlands, Lithuania.
Choirs For Ecocide Law project was published at the World Symposium on Choral Music, Istanbul, April 2023 by the core group Merzi Rajala, Kirsi Kaunismäki-Suhonen and Peder Karlsson. The entire work has been created as a non-profit, free volunteer work by artists and the working team. The project is not politically committed. The European Choral Association (ECA), Stop Ecocide International and several choral organizations from different countries support the project. The patron of the project is the former president of Finland, Tarja Halonen.
Based on our research of the test choirs process, participating the project really changed the perspectives of the participants towards global ecological sustainability.
Key objectives for sustainability
ECOCIDE is broadly understood to mean mass damage and destruction of ecosystems – severe harm to nature which is widespread or long-term.
Right now, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) lists four crimes:
Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes , Crimes of Aggression (recently added)
The Statute can be amended to add a fifth crime: ECOCIDE.
Unlike suing and fining corporations (who simply budget for this possibility), making ecocide a crime creates an arrestable offence.
It makes those individuals who are responsible for acts or decisions that lead to severe environmental harm liable to criminal prosecution.
Global Choirs for Ecocide law - project is an artistic tool to raise the awareness of this new powerful law-proposal, to let people know about it and to start taking actions to demand the decision-makers (Goverments of UN countries) to vote towards criminalizing ECOCIDE internationally.
This project shows an example, how anyone of us can do something in our own field of skills and interest towards Global sustainability,
and also help others to act and flourish towards our common good.
The creating team skills in life are focused in vocal music, and our instrument is people. That is why we decided our action to happen by playing that instrument, using choirs as vehicle. Our goal is that we from our part can help the world to decide together about the rules (Ecocide law proposal) how we wish our planet and nature being treated.
Right now, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) lists four crimes:
Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes , Crimes of Aggression (recently added)
The Statute can be amended to add a fifth crime: ECOCIDE.
Unlike suing and fining corporations (who simply budget for this possibility), making ecocide a crime creates an arrestable offence.
It makes those individuals who are responsible for acts or decisions that lead to severe environmental harm liable to criminal prosecution.
Global Choirs for Ecocide law - project is an artistic tool to raise the awareness of this new powerful law-proposal, to let people know about it and to start taking actions to demand the decision-makers (Goverments of UN countries) to vote towards criminalizing ECOCIDE internationally.
This project shows an example, how anyone of us can do something in our own field of skills and interest towards Global sustainability,
and also help others to act and flourish towards our common good.
The creating team skills in life are focused in vocal music, and our instrument is people. That is why we decided our action to happen by playing that instrument, using choirs as vehicle. Our goal is that we from our part can help the world to decide together about the rules (Ecocide law proposal) how we wish our planet and nature being treated.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
We are acknowledging the great need of the people to act and do something for the planet. We also are seeing a lot of despair and feelings of helplessness when it comes to the topics of nature, our planet, climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss etc..
We wish to offer a tool for singers to express and to deal with their feelings and needs.
To join their voices, their thoughts and wishes, to propose something that we believe would make a difference. Not only to sing together, but to discuss and share life and experiences together. To distant facilitate that process we provide workshop model and group questions in our rehearsal guidelines.
We encourage people towards artistic action via singing in their own choir, being connected to each other and acting in their own society.
For that we decided to create our artistic package equally accessible for many diverse kind of singing groups in the world.
We planned the content for many diverse choir forms, for diverse skill levels, available for free of charge.
This artistic project hands a tool for people to do environmental activism in an artistic, positive and constructive way. It hopefully can also spread hope
for individuals that feel nothing can be done.
The singers will learn about the positive possibility of making ecocide as internationally criminalized thing, and it´s positive ripple effect to our society and business models.
We wish to offer a tool for singers to express and to deal with their feelings and needs.
To join their voices, their thoughts and wishes, to propose something that we believe would make a difference. Not only to sing together, but to discuss and share life and experiences together. To distant facilitate that process we provide workshop model and group questions in our rehearsal guidelines.
We encourage people towards artistic action via singing in their own choir, being connected to each other and acting in their own society.
For that we decided to create our artistic package equally accessible for many diverse kind of singing groups in the world.
We planned the content for many diverse choir forms, for diverse skill levels, available for free of charge.
This artistic project hands a tool for people to do environmental activism in an artistic, positive and constructive way. It hopefully can also spread hope
for individuals that feel nothing can be done.
The singers will learn about the positive possibility of making ecocide as internationally criminalized thing, and it´s positive ripple effect to our society and business models.
Key objectives for inclusion
Choirs for Ecocide law is a totally free concert package, available for all the collective singers in the world. After registration the groups get access to both printable materials and ChoirMate application, where they find the same music material, scores and rehearsing tracks, in digital form.
Our project also offers rehearsing guidelines, stage design, production proposals and media material for all participants who wish to have those tools as well. This - we hope - will make our project easier for the groups who do not have a professional leader.
All the musical material has been published in 3 different forms, mixed choir, discant choir and unisono - in order to make our project as accessible for as many diverse groups as possible. This also allows the choirs to adjust the level of difficulty in their own process.
Choirs for Ecocide law concert material is also planned in a way that it can be performed from very small events, guitar + lead singer, all the way until huge concert productions with multiple choirs, soloists and a band.
The project proposes diverse groups to work together, and to share the workload of organizing a concert, and to work together for our joint goal.
All the song lyrics are in english, but the participating choirs are invited to contribute to our translation bank, so that the needs of the audience / singers from other language areas are met, in the program books of the concerts.
Our project also offers rehearsing guidelines, stage design, production proposals and media material for all participants who wish to have those tools as well. This - we hope - will make our project easier for the groups who do not have a professional leader.
All the musical material has been published in 3 different forms, mixed choir, discant choir and unisono - in order to make our project as accessible for as many diverse groups as possible. This also allows the choirs to adjust the level of difficulty in their own process.
Choirs for Ecocide law concert material is also planned in a way that it can be performed from very small events, guitar + lead singer, all the way until huge concert productions with multiple choirs, soloists and a band.
The project proposes diverse groups to work together, and to share the workload of organizing a concert, and to work together for our joint goal.
All the song lyrics are in english, but the participating choirs are invited to contribute to our translation bank, so that the needs of the audience / singers from other language areas are met, in the program books of the concerts.
Results in relation to category
Feedback and experience of the effect of the project:
We have achieved the goal of creating a choral concert package with storyline and process instructions, where the singer goes through a thinking process and gets new food for thoughts
about environmental awareness. Our test groups (before we launched in WSCM) gave us feedback like
- "I never ever can read the newspapers in the same way I did before this choral project"
- "I thought this is just some politically orientated critics, but then I realized this is not in an agenda of one party, but is a thing that really speaks on behalf of us all in this planet."
- "first I was afraid of the law proposal, but then I understood it is not against business or some "west wing" anti-capitalism movement. I understood that the law is for taking care that we all are doing also business in a sustainable way."
This feedback of the test groups (4 choirs) was a very strong proof for us, that we had succeeded to create such a content / process we were wishing.
we have also succeeded to show concrete support to Stop Ecocide International movement, and also to bring the long wanted artistic perspective to
their message. It is true, that art is a great vehicle to peoples hearts. No matter how much information we get into our cognitive minds, we do not change our behavior unless something touches us emotionally, or close enough.
We are happy to tell, that also the ones who work closely in the organisations of end / stop ecocide, have given us feedback of our work also empowering and inspiring them.
At the moment, we have 52 choirs in Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Lithuania, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, Thailand, Uganda, United States, Canada, United Kingdom and India.
Our starting point, and our main work is happening in Europe, but with time, we are wishing to get our project to spread more and more also to other continents, where actually the will for legal protection for nature is even lower.
We have achieved the goal of creating a choral concert package with storyline and process instructions, where the singer goes through a thinking process and gets new food for thoughts
about environmental awareness. Our test groups (before we launched in WSCM) gave us feedback like
- "I never ever can read the newspapers in the same way I did before this choral project"
- "I thought this is just some politically orientated critics, but then I realized this is not in an agenda of one party, but is a thing that really speaks on behalf of us all in this planet."
- "first I was afraid of the law proposal, but then I understood it is not against business or some "west wing" anti-capitalism movement. I understood that the law is for taking care that we all are doing also business in a sustainable way."
This feedback of the test groups (4 choirs) was a very strong proof for us, that we had succeeded to create such a content / process we were wishing.
we have also succeeded to show concrete support to Stop Ecocide International movement, and also to bring the long wanted artistic perspective to
their message. It is true, that art is a great vehicle to peoples hearts. No matter how much information we get into our cognitive minds, we do not change our behavior unless something touches us emotionally, or close enough.
We are happy to tell, that also the ones who work closely in the organisations of end / stop ecocide, have given us feedback of our work also empowering and inspiring them.
At the moment, we have 52 choirs in Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Lithuania, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, Thailand, Uganda, United States, Canada, United Kingdom and India.
Our starting point, and our main work is happening in Europe, but with time, we are wishing to get our project to spread more and more also to other continents, where actually the will for legal protection for nature is even lower.
How Citizens benefit
Choirs for Ecocide Law project invites all the singers, all around the world to participate, to learn the concert material, to discuss the ecocide law topics, to organize a concert and a panel discussion with their local community, experts and politicians.
In Europe only, it has been counted to be 37.000.000 choral singers. Our primary target group is the singers, the process they go through while learning the repertoire. We know, that they will carry the information of Ecocide law to their homes and families, and later, invite a couple of friends or relatives to their concert. That makes every singer count for 5-7 more people knowing about the ecocide law.
Choirs for Ecocide Law is a project, created for the civil society and third sector.
In the project creating:
The whole project is started and run by three artists / pedagogues as civil persons:
Merzi Rajala, FIN (choir conductor, composer, musician, Global Music lecturer, Sibelius Academy, University of Arts, Finland),
Kirsi Kaunismäki- Suhonen FIN (choir conductor, principal, music teacher, integrative coach)
Peder Karlsson SWE (singer, composer, Ecocide Law educator, founding member of The Real Group, honorary professor at Royal Academy of Music, Denmark.)
composers and/ or lyric writers civil persons: Chris Hutchins, Peder Karlsson, Astrid Vang Pedersen, Simon Marainen, Merzi Rajala, Federico Trindade, Kevin Fox, Simone Tandberg Christensen, Genevieve Andersen, Moira Smiley, Edward Randell, Niilo Suhonen, Panu Halme.
Story line: Vang Pedersen, Rajala.
Graphic design: Karin Brodén
Our work is based on working voluntary, free of charge, and also asking help from many colleagues around Europe.
Connected to our core team there as several composers, stage designer, storyline creation, poems, IT- help, graphic design, choirs making demo recordings, try out groups of singers and conductors. This whole project could not exist without their co-creative work-input, support and reflection.
In Europe only, it has been counted to be 37.000.000 choral singers. Our primary target group is the singers, the process they go through while learning the repertoire. We know, that they will carry the information of Ecocide law to their homes and families, and later, invite a couple of friends or relatives to their concert. That makes every singer count for 5-7 more people knowing about the ecocide law.
Choirs for Ecocide Law is a project, created for the civil society and third sector.
In the project creating:
The whole project is started and run by three artists / pedagogues as civil persons:
Merzi Rajala, FIN (choir conductor, composer, musician, Global Music lecturer, Sibelius Academy, University of Arts, Finland),
Kirsi Kaunismäki- Suhonen FIN (choir conductor, principal, music teacher, integrative coach)
Peder Karlsson SWE (singer, composer, Ecocide Law educator, founding member of The Real Group, honorary professor at Royal Academy of Music, Denmark.)
composers and/ or lyric writers civil persons: Chris Hutchins, Peder Karlsson, Astrid Vang Pedersen, Simon Marainen, Merzi Rajala, Federico Trindade, Kevin Fox, Simone Tandberg Christensen, Genevieve Andersen, Moira Smiley, Edward Randell, Niilo Suhonen, Panu Halme.
Story line: Vang Pedersen, Rajala.
Graphic design: Karin Brodén
Our work is based on working voluntary, free of charge, and also asking help from many colleagues around Europe.
Connected to our core team there as several composers, stage designer, storyline creation, poems, IT- help, graphic design, choirs making demo recordings, try out groups of singers and conductors. This whole project could not exist without their co-creative work-input, support and reflection.
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Innovative character
For my understanding, the is not such a project in choral world before, where a whole concept is created and handed over for free for such a wide
target group. The fact that this project has a specific mission, and specific message of a proposal for global sustainabilty, makes it unique in at least choral world.
Significant is also the active research process of the topic connected to the artistic development process, the connection towards the core team , the head office of stop ecocide international.
From choral perspective, the form of the concert package is very innovative, in a way that the concert can be scaled and implemented in such various ways, depending of the resources and needs.
target group. The fact that this project has a specific mission, and specific message of a proposal for global sustainabilty, makes it unique in at least choral world.
Significant is also the active research process of the topic connected to the artistic development process, the connection towards the core team , the head office of stop ecocide international.
From choral perspective, the form of the concert package is very innovative, in a way that the concert can be scaled and implemented in such various ways, depending of the resources and needs.
Disciplines/knowledge reflected
Scientific research:
- Core team getting deeper understanding of the backgrounds and future visions of the ecocide law, by having organized discussions with end Ecocide Sweden connected researchers.
Artistic research:
- Finding the perspective to current discussions and diverse "voices" of environmental crisis, based on interviews, discussions, concert draft try outs,
workshops with choirs. Creating the storyline based on that knowledge.
Music / Composing, inside the following frame:
- vocal music, interesting but not too hard, popular music fusion with the composers own style, about a specific theme, with a specific character.
Music / arranging
- arranging the compositions to different forms.
Music / creating song lyrics
- Creating lyrics from a specific perspective and character
Stage design / story line
- together with the stage director and artistic director, creating an emotional curve and a flow, supporting the storyline of the concert.
Digital innovation, ChoirMate
- an application to have choral material to your phone, rehearsing tool.
Producing
- Core team getting deeper understanding of the backgrounds and future visions of the ecocide law, by having organized discussions with end Ecocide Sweden connected researchers.
Artistic research:
- Finding the perspective to current discussions and diverse "voices" of environmental crisis, based on interviews, discussions, concert draft try outs,
workshops with choirs. Creating the storyline based on that knowledge.
Music / Composing, inside the following frame:
- vocal music, interesting but not too hard, popular music fusion with the composers own style, about a specific theme, with a specific character.
Music / arranging
- arranging the compositions to different forms.
Music / creating song lyrics
- Creating lyrics from a specific perspective and character
Stage design / story line
- together with the stage director and artistic director, creating an emotional curve and a flow, supporting the storyline of the concert.
Digital innovation, ChoirMate
- an application to have choral material to your phone, rehearsing tool.
Producing
Methodology used
Pedagogical: By providing an artistic tool for choral singers, we can transmit a message to them through the content. Later they will transmit it forward.
Pedagogical: By providing workshop questions and instructions for collective discussions about ecocide law, local experiences and thoughts, we are
helping singers not only to be aware of the ecocide law, but to discuss their own environment and community.
Pedagogical / wellbeing: by providing this artistic tool for singers, we provide a vehicle for dealing with hard environmental topics, and also offer a positive opportunity for artistic environmental activism.
High-level artistic co-creation: guaranteeing that the outcome is with good quality, and flexible. That the concert concept is relevant to the topic,
and easy to understand. That is also emotionally strong experience.
Pedagogical: By providing workshop questions and instructions for collective discussions about ecocide law, local experiences and thoughts, we are
helping singers not only to be aware of the ecocide law, but to discuss their own environment and community.
Pedagogical / wellbeing: by providing this artistic tool for singers, we provide a vehicle for dealing with hard environmental topics, and also offer a positive opportunity for artistic environmental activism.
High-level artistic co-creation: guaranteeing that the outcome is with good quality, and flexible. That the concert concept is relevant to the topic,
and easy to understand. That is also emotionally strong experience.
How stakeholders are engaged
Europe:
European Choral Association - has supported, advised and helped the project from the very beginning (2021 -). They also help to inform their members about our project through their newsletter and by organizing webinars with us.
Edition FerryMontana, Germany - has edited our score-material without charge, participated to our project
World Symposium on Choral Music - has provided visibility and given us a presentation place in symposium April 23 / Istanbul, to launch the project
and to connect with "local" associations from different countries in Europe.
Stop Ecocide International - has welcome our inititative and supported our work for example by maiking our webpage as a subpage to their international site, and providing IT-expert help for creating it.
End Ecocidio / Spain - is right now helping in translating the project to Spanish speaking world.
Scandinavia:
ChoirMate, Norway - has provided their application for choirs that register to this project for free. They provide all the digital material to any singers of registered choirs. The singers can also get straight information from the project through the application, and connect to eachother.
End Ecocide Finland, End Ecocide Sweden - are providing help in forms of expertise of ecocide law,, research and global transition towards sustainability. End ecocide Finland also helps with the press- release fact checking.
Former president Tarja Halonen - is the patron of the project
researcher Panu Halme, JKL University, Finland
Emeritus ambassador Mikko Pyhälä, Finland - is very active supporter of the project, connections towards the politicians.
choir festivals: provided us visibility and a presentation slot, also artistic implementations.
f.ex Tampereen Sävel choir festival, Finland; Aarhus Vocal Festival, Denmark; Singing Bridges, Serbia; Bonner Schumanfest, Germany;
Lithuanian National Youth Choir- project, Lithuania; EUROTREFF festival, Germany.
European Choral Association - has supported, advised and helped the project from the very beginning (2021 -). They also help to inform their members about our project through their newsletter and by organizing webinars with us.
Edition FerryMontana, Germany - has edited our score-material without charge, participated to our project
World Symposium on Choral Music - has provided visibility and given us a presentation place in symposium April 23 / Istanbul, to launch the project
and to connect with "local" associations from different countries in Europe.
Stop Ecocide International - has welcome our inititative and supported our work for example by maiking our webpage as a subpage to their international site, and providing IT-expert help for creating it.
End Ecocidio / Spain - is right now helping in translating the project to Spanish speaking world.
Scandinavia:
ChoirMate, Norway - has provided their application for choirs that register to this project for free. They provide all the digital material to any singers of registered choirs. The singers can also get straight information from the project through the application, and connect to eachother.
End Ecocide Finland, End Ecocide Sweden - are providing help in forms of expertise of ecocide law,, research and global transition towards sustainability. End ecocide Finland also helps with the press- release fact checking.
Former president Tarja Halonen - is the patron of the project
researcher Panu Halme, JKL University, Finland
Emeritus ambassador Mikko Pyhälä, Finland - is very active supporter of the project, connections towards the politicians.
choir festivals: provided us visibility and a presentation slot, also artistic implementations.
f.ex Tampereen Sävel choir festival, Finland; Aarhus Vocal Festival, Denmark; Singing Bridges, Serbia; Bonner Schumanfest, Germany;
Lithuanian National Youth Choir- project, Lithuania; EUROTREFF festival, Germany.
Global challenges
Choirs for Ecocide Law project is trying to raise the awareness of the need for an international ECOCIDE law.
We hope that while people locally wake up to the solution, it will echo all the way to highest level of decicionmaking little by little,
town by town, city by city, country by country,
Ecocide law, and therefore also this project adresses the following global challenges:
Ocean damage
- overfishing and overextraction
- oil spills
- chemical and plastic pollution
- deep sea mining
Deforestration:
- industrial livestock farming
- mineral extraction, mining
- oil drilling, oil spills
- palm oil & wood production
- mountaintop removal
- tar sands
- fracking
- textile chemicals
- agricultural pollution
- insect populations
Air pollution
- chemical disasters & weapons
- radioactive contamination
- nuclear weapons, nuclear testing
- industrial emissions
- cement industries
We hope that while people locally wake up to the solution, it will echo all the way to highest level of decicionmaking little by little,
town by town, city by city, country by country,
Ecocide law, and therefore also this project adresses the following global challenges:
Ocean damage
- overfishing and overextraction
- oil spills
- chemical and plastic pollution
- deep sea mining
Deforestration:
- industrial livestock farming
- mineral extraction, mining
- oil drilling, oil spills
- palm oil & wood production
- mountaintop removal
- tar sands
- fracking
- textile chemicals
- agricultural pollution
- insect populations
Air pollution
- chemical disasters & weapons
- radioactive contamination
- nuclear weapons, nuclear testing
- industrial emissions
- cement industries
Learning transferred to other parties
In Europe only, it has been counted to be 37.000.000 choral singers. Our primary target group is the singers, the process they go through while learning the repertoire. We know, that they will carry the information of Ecocide law to their homes and families, and later, invite a couple of friends or relatives to their concert. That makes every singer count for 5-7 more people knowing about the ecocide law.
Choirs for Ecocide Law can be replicated anywhere, and we also offer help for it.
Choirs for Ecocide Law can be replicated anywhere, and we also offer help for it.
Keywords
art and environment
ecocide law
choral music
community, from local to global
sustainability
