“Songs of Protest” amplifies ecological resistance through diverse musical expressions spanning continents and genres.
Host Bart Everson opens with Sarina Partridge’s defiant “Big Spruce,” celebrating ancient trees as symbols of resilience against environmental destruction. The journey continues with Ariana Fig’s heartbreaking “From the Windowsill,” where the poignant lyric about not wanting to “make babies in the world we created” captures youth climate anxiety. Michel Montecrossa offers the solution-oriented “Save the Climate,” while Netherlands-based Cynthia & The Digital Bunnies’ “Nature’s Cry” and Ed D’Alessandro’s “Row Us Home” express urgency for action. Raye’s orchestral “Environmental Anxiety” delivers a scathing critique of societal complacency, leading to Living Earth’s rallying “Resist!” After the break, Kate Daisy Grant and Nick Pynn’s instrumental “Holly” provides contemplative space before Tom Neilson’s “Stand for Forests” specifically protests wood pellet industries destroying carbon-sequestering trees. The program concludes with Jan Needle’s class-conscious “Wild Wood,” Damh the Bard’s critique of human exceptionalism in “Only Human,” Mighty Howard’s reggae-infused “Mother Earth,” and Unshakable Race’s 1999 “Monkey’s Uncle”—demonstrating how protest music remains vital to environmental awakening across generations.