Music stars perform on Arctic ‘iceberg’ in call for ocean and climate protection

British six-time Grammy winner, Jacob Collier, has collaborated with Norwegian alt-pop superstar, AURORA, for the first time in a magical performance in the Arctic, premiering today. The stars appear together on a platform floating amidst icebergs in front of the imposing glacier, Sveabreen, Svalbard. They perform a haunting mash-up of their two songs, A Rock Somewhere and The Seed, in a rallying cry for ocean and climate protection. The creative performance was delivered in partnership with Greenpeace International from the organisation’s ship Arctic Sunrise.



The singer songwriters have joined forces in the fragile Arctic to highlight the urgent need to protect the oceans and stop deep sea mining. Oceans are under increasing pressure from a range of threats, including acidification, climate change, industrial fishing and pollution. This ocean crisis has pushed marine ecosystems to the brink of collapse and companies now want to mine the deep sea for profit. The Norwegian government is racing to allow commercial mining operations to begin in the Arctic.

Jacob Collier said:
“The moment I heard about an opportunity to jump aboard one of the legendary Greenpeace ships, head to Arctic waters, and sing a song with one of my favourite artists next to a mighty glacier, I knew I was signing up for something special. What I hadn’t foreseen was quite how transformative and moving the experience would be, and how much it would teach me - musically, energetically and environmentally.

“I was bowled over at the sheer magnitude of the Arctic - and also its deep fragility. We’ve lost two thirds of all the Arctic summer ice in the last forty years. It’s a shadow of its former self - yet it’s not too late for us to help.

“We are all creatures of the Earth, and rely so deeply upon its health for our own. The oceans are our primary ally in preventing truly disastrous consequences of climate change from taking hold. The impact of deep sea mining is too disastrous to mention - we urgently must protect the world’s oceans - and act NOW before it’s too late.”

AURORA said:
"We need to understand, the more we interfere with, or the more we violate, nature we will have a lesser chance to survive the consequences of our actions. We already know the large impact every choice we’ve made so far has had on the health of this planet. And therefore the health of every life that lives on it. I don’t understand why we cannot let things be. Our curiosity has turned sour, and now I feel like we’re only looking to dominate - take the land, take everything it has to offer before anyone else does it.

“We compete with each other as nations but we forget the one thing we all have in common. If we keep interfering with the few untouched areas of this Earth, there will be no future. We have to stop deep sea mining. I hope our Prime Minister and the other world leaders will do what is right. Not for them, but for the children of the children."

Dr Laura Meller of Greenpeace Nordic said:
“Hearing AURORA and Jacob’s eerily beautiful voices echo around the glacier and the icebergs was such a reminder of the fragility of our planet, and why we work so hard to protect it. Centuries of human extraction have pushed ocean ecosystems to the brink of collapse.

“We won a historic Global Ocean Treaty last year, which keeps our goal of protecting 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030 alive. But governments now want to mine the deep. We won’t let that happen. We hope this collaboration will inspire millions of people around the world to join our mission to protect the oceans for future generations. We still have time, but governments must act now. They must protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030 and introduce a moratorium on deep sea mining.”

Worldwide, millions have signed Greenpeace’s petition calling for ocean protection. Currently 32 countries support a deep sea mining moratorium, precautionary pause or ban on deep sea mining in the international seabed, which covers almost 60 percent of the blue planet. The number of leading electric vehicle and technology companies publicly committing to not source minerals mined from the deep sea now stands at 58 and includes Google, Samsung, Apple, Volvo and BMW.