Bridget Walsh on the Intersection of Music and Climate Justice

I’m sitting in my living room with a green smoothie, a homemade oat latte and water in a glass keepcup, that I no longer use for coffees (because it leaks - don’t worry I have a new one that doesn’t). Three drinks because I have ADHD and you never know when you’ll need a bit of energy, nourishment or hydration. Best to keep all three handy. Saw on instagram a few years ago that it’s an ADHD trope and felt very seen. And hydrated.

I’m Bridget. I’m a musician trying to help save the world.

My first foray into community organising

In 2010, I went vegan and started scratching beneath the surface of how our choices affect the world around us. I started a blog: Fancy Saving The World? I had moved to London from Aotearoa (NZ) months before and was trying to get work in bands, studios and schools.

My father is Scottish, my mum’s parents were Irish and I was one of the few New Zealanders coming to London on my big “OE” (overseas experience) who could stay indefinitely courtesy of my maroon passport. Having joined the Green Party in NZ a couple of years earlier, it seemed right to join the Greens here in the UK, and so began my first foray into community organising.

Because of my blog, encouraging compassion and connection, I was offered a scholarship to do my yoga teacher training in 2011, bringing my holistic worldviews into my yoga practice, especially embodying the values of “Ahimsa”, non-violence.

Understanding the deep interrelation between everything we do, buy, eat, choose. Starting to see that climate justice is social justice. That kindness is power. That hope is vital.

Balancing music and activism 

In 2012 when I joined the MU I was living in Brighton, teaching yoga, teaching piano, and singing BVs for a few different people around the place. It was a nice balance of spreading love, kindness and music, plus I was by the sea with my beautiful dog Eugene, and felt like I was on a meaningful path.

Then I was picked up by a band in Birmingham so we relocated there from Sussex. The band toured full time for a couple years (before I left in a blaze of glory) and then I toured with another band from Leeds after that. Between 2013 and 2017 I was touring a lot, singing a lot… but also having conniptions that I had “given up” on trying to save the world in favour of pursuing my dreams.

In 2017 I was asked by the co-leader of the Green Party in NZ if I would consider running for parliament. Talk about codeswitch. Being an MP wasn’t something I wanted to pursue, but travelling around the world getting up in spaces and trying to inspire people to make good choices didn’t feel like too much of a leap from getting up on stage and inspiring through music - so I agreed to be the Party’s "International Candidate” in 2017’s bid to change the government and ultimately elect global darling, Jacinda Ardern as PM.

Joining the MU ED&I Advisory Board

After a year of political campaigning (and songwriting on the road), it was time to get back into music, and find my ikigai. I was back in my Birmingham kitchen when I heard Annie Mac on Radio 6 play “Water Baby” by Tom Misch, chatting about the burgeoning South London jazz scene. Having come up in a background of hiphop, house and jazz, this was the kind of music I had been writing. I decided to move back to London and start my own band: 10:32 with Lyle Barton, Radovan Brtko and Isobella Burnham.

I agreed to stay involved with the NZ Greens as an “ambassador-at-large”, helping to connect our overseas Aotearoa community with each other and with politics back home. I was elected to the MU ED&I Advisory Board (formerly the ED&I Committee) and was slowly carving out that intersection between my organising and activism, my music and art. Saving the world started seeping into my songwriting, and I started being asked to speak at events around the role of creativity to help prevent climate collapse and the complete disintegration of humanity.

In 2023 I was invited to join the MU’s Climate Emergency Working Group, then voted in as co-chair with my friend and comrade, Balraj Samrai. Through quarterly meetings, we started to consolidate our group’s wisdom into actionable ideas for the Union and our fellow members.

The intersection of music and planetary healing

Since 2023, I’ve navigated the deep grief of my beautiful dog passing away, I’ve completed a Masters in jazz at the Guildhall, and I’ve continued to be spokesperson for the NZ Green Party’s global outreach. 10:32 have two new EPs coming out this year, and I’m grateful to continue co-leading the renamed Climate Emergency Action Group, also allowing me a seat at our Members Assemblies.

I’ve been asked to speak at TUC events, and we’ve integrated our green manifesto into the MU’s core value structure. We have many ideas for the year ahead and the work is ongoing. It’s long and tiring and there’s very little money in it (otherwise the 1% would be all over it instead of trying to rinse our resources for every last drop of profit), and it often goes unseen.

That’s why I’m so humbled to be asked to write this piece today. To share some background about where the intersection of music and planetary healing may lie for you, should you choose to pursue it.

I try to leave every stage and platform with people feeling a little lighter and more empowered

My coffee is done, but the smoothie is still going strong. The sun is still shining and the fires of hope are still burning.

I watched Louis Theroux’s Manosphere doc on Netflix over the weekend while writing up invoices, followed by the America’s Next Top Model documentary. I’m not generally one for reality TV but these seemed important, though I do NOT recommend a back-to-back watch, unless you want extreme emotional whiplash and cognitive dissonance overload.

As a queer, neurospicy woman who grew up in the 90s, trying to navigate our industry and the world, in these completely chaotic, horrifying and face-melting times, they were a pretty stark reminder of how collectively we can allow things to slide if we don’t hold staunchly true to values of kindness, compassion, equity and hope.

For me, I think that’s where my ikigai lies: I deal in the currency of joy, kindness and possibility. Hosting a panel or headlining a festival, I try to leave every stage and platform with people feeling a little lighter and more empowered to be part of the love, hope and revolution we all so desperately need right now.

If any of this has resonated, please drop me a line @lovefrombridget and @1032music.

Stay hopeful, stay hydrated. Community is everything.

Bridget and her dog Eugene.

 

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