Thom Yorke with the full name of Thomas Edward Yorke is a British musician and composer. He is also a singer and songwriter of the famous rock band alternative called Radiohead. If usually, a rocker is synonymous with metallic and hardcore things, who would have thought that this rock singer was also an environmental activist.
The man who was born in Wellingborough, October 7, 1968, has many talents in the field of music. He first joined Radiohead’s band since 1991 when he was still 22 years old. At first, Thom contracted with Parlophone, then they changed their name to Radiohead.
His work in the music world is no doubt. At Radiohead, Thom became the lead singer. Among his busy life as a musician, Thom is known to be active as a humanitarian, environmentalist and anti-war activist. He criticized many of the humanitarian and environmental issues that are happening in the world.
Thom lived a vegetarian life and once criticized the meat industry. His determination to become vegetarian was inspired after he listened to the song “Meat is Murder” by The Smiths. According to him eating meat has damaged his diet. He always felt sick every time he ate meat.
Furthermore, in 2005 in the film presented by animal protection founder Animal Aid, Thom said that people consider the suffering (eating meat) is needed to eat food that they really do not need. He also added that people should be more aware of what they are doing rather than assume that they as human beings have the right to do so. This is the reason why Thom believes that being a veggie is the best.
As a member of the Radiohead band, Thom did not escape environmental actions. Ever since more conscious of the environment, the band has gracefully combined its love of eclectic music-from hard rock to minimalist electronic sound-by overtly criticizing various social issues.
Thom’s actions as an environmental activist were also demonstrated by his support for Friends of the Earth, an international network of environmental organizations in 74 countries. The organization aims to make the world healthier and fairer.
Thom’s environmental action was shown by making a note for President Barack Obama on his band’s website. The note discusses the issue of the Alberta Tar Sands project, the Keystone Xl development project which is expected to reach 1700 miles of pipeline length.
The pipes are installed from Alberta Tar Sands to several oil refineries placed in the Gulf of Mexico carrying oil that can hurt the earth. His uploads on the web are titled “Real vs. Astroturf “, one of its aims is to urge the president not to commit self-destructive acts.
Back fighting for environmental improvements through uploads on the web, Thom has also made a note titled “Sticky Tar Chart Rant” in 2010. Its content is about protesting against the Canadian government’s goal of increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the 2010 Copenhagen Summit event.
Earlier, Thom gained access to climate change talks in Copenhagen in December 2009 disguised as a member of the press. It was the same year that He expressed his support for 10:10 percent, a campaign to motivate people to act positively on climate change by reducing carbon emissions.
Though he bluntly pointed out that he was an activist, Thom said that he was not and would never be the most sacred. Himself as a supporter of Friends of Earth realize if the group’s musical activities such as concerts, tours, and festivals certainly use a lot of fossil fuels and this means a lot of carbon emissions are generated.
However, his expectation was the same as everyone, namely eliminating carbon emissions. Therefore, he is always trying to make his carbon emissions smaller and encourage others to follow in the footsteps of Thom Yorke.
