Classic Joy Division sleeve reworked for climate change campaign
25 April 2021, 12:00
The Music Declares Emergency have produced a t-shirt which puts a new spin on the famous Unknown Pleasures waveform.
Climate change charity Music Declares Emergency has enlisted designer Peter Saville to rework his classic album cover for Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures for their No Music On A Dead Planet campaign.
Saville has taken the famous waveform - actually radio signals from the first pulsar to be discovered in the 1960s - and flattened them out to symbolise "the eternal silence of a dead planet".
The image is now available as a t-shirt from the Music Declares Emergency site and has been modelled by former Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook.
Hook said: "The world is in terrible trouble now and if we don’t look to address the climate emergency facing the planet immediately, then ourselves and all future generations face tremendous problems. If everyone can look to make changes, we could all have a huge impact."
The charity assures fans that the shirt is "Printed in the UK with low waste printing tech" and "Made in a renewable energy powered factory audited for a wide range of social and sustainability criteria."
The release of the t-shirt is one of a number of "Turn Up The Volume" events taking place this week, climaxing in Earth Day on Thursday 22 April.
MDE's mission is to "stand together to declare a climate and ecological emergency and call for an immediate governmental response to protect all life on Earth".
The four main aims of the campaign are:
- To "call on governments and media institutions to tell the truth about the climate and ecological emergency."
- To "call on governments to act now to reverse biodiversity loss and reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by no later than 2030."
- To "recognise that the emergency has arisen from global injustices and will work towards systemic change to protect life on Earth.
- And to "acknowledge the environmental impact of music industry practices and commit to taking urgent action."
For more information, see musicdeclares.net
