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PATTI SMITH ANNOUNCES CLIMATE CHANGE BENEFIT

The morning after performing in Central Park, Patti Smith took to a stage at the U.N. to discuss a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall for organizations fighting climate change.

Smith, Michael Stipe, Joan Baez, Cat Power, Flea and others will perform at the Concert for Climate Action on 11/5, which will raise funds for the organizations 350.org, Pathway to Paris and the UNDP.

“As an artist,” Smith said, “I believe that we have a unique role where we can incite the people, rally the people, entertain the people, because real change is not made by a handful of artists—it’s made by the people themselves. To have a concert like this is to able to reach a few thousand people who can speak to a few thousand other people; it’s a way to keep things moving. It will be a unique night.”

Smith’s daughter, Jesse Paris Smith, founded Pathway to Paris in 2014 with Rebecca Foon, and will announce a new initiative at the show—1,000 Cities, which invites cities around the world to transition to 100% renewables by 2040.

The Pathway duo, 350.org’s May Boave and Smith were peppered with political questions that the day’s moderator attempted to quell. Smith capably gave a broad answer regarding activism and the political hurdles being set up by the Trump Administration regarding the environment.

“Whatever is going on around us, e have to remember who we are and what we are capable of—stay positive and do our work,” she said. “When I worked for Ralph Nader, one of the things he taught us was nothing productive comes out of negativity and pessimism. It’s important to not be drawn into a state of paralysis. One has to take a breath and rise above it.

“I’m not saying it as rhetoric, I’m saying it as a course of action.

I refuse to be trampled by [administration’s actions], demoralized by it. I keep on doing my work, our work, so each thing that we do, we’re connecting the dots.

“Keep our eyes on what we’re trying to do and not on what is being done to dismantle our efforts.”

Information on the concert can be found here.

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