Hi there, this is Alex Smith from Radio Ecoshock.

OK, my last podcast was the most depressing ever – the latest news on new coal fired power plants all over the world – set to Chopin’s funeral march. I suppose I was just trying use music, art, to convey the true horror of our situation – and not just for us, but for all the animals and plants, now that the carbon monster is out of the ground.

But art should heal as well as hurt. So this time round, I’ve gathered up the six best new songs about climate change. It’s a mix ranging from neo-surfer through spiritual to rock. Let’s start enjoying our endless summer.

[“Endless Summer” – Ghostly Penguin Display, no website]

By the way, I’ve just recorded a different kind of California sensation: Terry Tamminen is a top advisor to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governator, and headed up the State’s EPA. Now he’s heading around the country, and the world, convincing state and regional governments to go climate friendly. Tamminen is also promoting his new book “Lives Per Gallon” – the true cost of oil addiction.

You can download his hard-hitting speech at our website, www.ecoshock.org, in the climate section. Tamminen doesn’t pull any punches. He says vehicle exhausts are killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, and millions around the world. And we have the transportation system we have, he says, due to outright political corruption and a cascade of lies similar to the tobacco industry campaign denying cancer. You can download that speech, plus another half hour of the Q and A that followed, free from the website. I think it’s going to be one of the best climate speeches of 2007.

Find Tamminen’s speech here (an exclusive to Radio Ecoshock, recorded by us on April 4th, 2007 at the Vancouver Museum book launch)

[www.ecoshock.org/DNclimate_2007.html]

Here’s two quick tunes in a row. Joel Zifkin reminds us of New Orleans, but really, it will be High Water Rising for people all over the world. Then Mike Delaney gets a little more humor in, with his song “Low Carb”.

[“High Water Rising” – Joel Zifkin, www.myspace.com/joelzifkin]

[“Low Carb” – Mike Delaney, www.mikedelaney.org]

You can find these tunes, for a while, at Bill McKibben’s Step It up 07 site, that’s www.stepitup07.org. It’s important to get that 07 into the web name, or you end up at a health food business. April 14th is coming up quickly, and I hope you have already planned your day off to show up in the streets, to show politicians in Washington that yes, we do care if the planet is wrecked, and we want action now.

April 14th: Arrange day care, take the kids, phone in sick, do what you have to do – but this really matters. There are laws pending that could make a big difference, but they won’t go anywhere without a massive show of public support. And have fun at the same time. stepitup07.org At the end of this podcast, I’ll be playing a short message from Bill McKibben.

On with the music.

First, “Is That What It Will Take?” followed by a neat experiment with group signing arranged by long-time singer Linda Allen.

[“Is That What It Will Take?” Bryan Wood, www.bryandouglaswood.com]

[“We Are the Rainbow Sign” – Linda Allen et al, www.lindasongs.com]

Here is that two minutes from Bill McKibben I promised you. After that, we’re going to rock on out of here with Clatter, Singing “House of Trouble.” You can find all this music on our website, in the Music section of our audio on demand menu.

[Bill McKibben clip explaining the campaign, and the novel “actions” planned. 2 min]

That’s it from me, Alex Smith, of Radio Ecoshock.

[“House of Trouble” Clatter, www.clatter.com]