A Thousand Voices to Cool the World is a campaign to raise the voices of kids who stand to lose the most if we don’t start cooling the world.

My name is Deborah Pardes and I’ve organized Cool the World to help kids around the globe raise their voices in support of environmental responsibility.

When voices are raised in song – they have power beyond the spoken word. Historically, we have seen how songs raise consciousness, cultivate change and inspire action (towards ending aids, hunger, war). The environment needs a song, too – a  song sung by the voices of those who stand to lose the most if we don’t cool this planet. I wrote Cool the World. But it’s these young voices that have now given it the power and beauty it needs to move people to action.

Kids and the environment. Both loom large in our conversations about the future. We want to protect both. We owe our protection to both. Both deserve a chance to thrive with an abandon that simply seems integral to being young, fiercely alive and unfettered by made-made anything.

Kids have voices that are about to be raised louder than we’ve ever heard them before. A Thousand Voices to Cool the World is a campaign that will hold us all accountable. It will sing a simple message that demands a complex action: cool the world. But unlike the days of “We are the World” when – back in 1985 – that song so boldly and beautifully moved us to give our dollars to feed the poor of Africa, “Cool the World” will leverage the innovations of social media and technology to raise that bar of impact so much higher.

First, we will encourage “Cool the World” to be sung by kids’ choirs from all over the planet – in as many languages as possible. We’ll share these through the “Cool the World” smart phone app that has another huge function and purpose: It will serve as the new “Yelp” for the environment. It will enable users to rate their local and national and international businesses based on their carbon footprint. Businesses will get notified. Business will take notice. Times this by millions of users across the world holding us all accountable. Imagine this all spearheaded by the voices of the young people who stand to lose the most if we don’t start changing our ways – one action at a time.

Cool the World just launched a campaign to begin to fund this vision. Please support us. We can’t do this without you.

Click here to support our project!

Deborah Pardes has thrived as a professional writer / songwriter for nearly 3 decades. She has recorded 5 albums under her own name, and 5 more as a producer. In 2000, Deborah founded Artists for Literacy, after gaining national recognition for a song she wrote & recorded inspired by Frank McCourt’s novel, Angela’s Ashes. She has mobilized over 1000 songwriters and musicians nation-wide to promote literacy, including Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Tom Waits, Aimee Mann , Steve Earle & Roseanne Cash. Her Songs Inspired By Literature (SIBL) Project garnered her and her mission coverage in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, All Things Considered, (NPR) and more. She is driven by community, storytelling and the deep connection between the two.