Sting, Robert Downey Jr, Bruce Springsteen and more covered Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” during a performance at the Beacon Theater in New York on December 9.
The meeting “Rock for the Rainforest 2019” was a charity event aimed at raising funds for the Rainforest Foundation. Created by Sting, the NGO sends funds for projects that preserve the environment – including those linked to the Amazon.
James Taylor, Ricky Martin, John Mellencamp, Shaggy, H.E.R. and the Eurythmics also participated in the cover.
Watch the moment below:
In an statement in 2019, Sting criticized Brazil for not protecting the Amazon:
“Legend has it that the Emperor Nero “fiddled while Rome burned”. While obviously bristling at the dubious factoid that such a stupid man could have been a musician. None of us, including me, can be complacent about the tragic dimensions of the disaster taking place in the Amazon as I write.”
“Amazonia is on fire at an unprecedented rate. 80% up from last year and with 39% more deforestation – and the world is suddenly taking notice.”
“Populist leaders citing nationalist agendas, or claiming that climate change and its handmaidens are a hoax, are guilty of much more than standing by and doing nothing. This is criminal negligence on a global scale.”
“This is no place for the outdated bromides of nationalism in a world where we all breathe the same air. And where we will all suffer the consequences of this willful negligence.”
Lungs of the Earth
“Calling Amazonia the “lungs of the Earth” may not be exactly anatomically correct, but it does convey that it is a vital and irreplaceable link in the chain of wellbeing on our planet in the increasingly narrow band of climatic vectors where human life can survive. We simply cannot afford to let it burn.”
“We are fast approaching the tipping point where the fires will continue to burn and cannot be put out.”
“Appeal to the Brazilian government to change the policy that has opened up Amazonia for exploitation. Nationalist rhetoric has effectively ignited the flames which threaten to engulf the most important living laboratory on the planet. Countless species are in danger of immediate extinction.”
“The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has openly voiced that he is no friend to the indigenous people and now he is reneging on land treaties already signed, opening up new territories and dismantling the scientific and human rights organizations in Brazil to enable this. He has criticized the G7 countries for hypocrisy, saying that we cut down our own forests long ago, but that’s no reason not to learn from those mistakes.”