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Sea to Sky’s KYOTO RAP (C, Am, F, G)
Written by Tim Turner, Sea to Sky Outdoor School, Gibsons, B.C. This is the funniest rap I’ve ever heard. It’s sung around campfires.

I come with a message, my name’s Homey Yo!
Ya like it in brief? Okay – KYOTO!
This word of five letters just means simply this –
Keep Your Options Tomorrow Open or no doubt you will miss

Choices the future will deliver so long,
as we learn some restraint and stop doin’ what’s wrong.
There’s way more to this story if you open your eyes,
then wackier weather or sea levels that rise.

On a planet where everything’s interconnected
if something goes down the whole world is affected.
What’s causing this ruckus, what’s creatin’ this fuss?
You don’t have to look far ‘cause it’s all about us.

Convenience and ignorance with a dose of ‘don’t care’
and presto! A gas blanket that warms up the air.
Molecular garbage that’s easy to hide,
like C02, methane and nitrous oxides.

From the tailpipes of cars and people you meet
come these gases you can’t see creatin’ sponges for heat.
So they heat up the air causing glacial retreat,
ice pack starts shrinking while polar bears freak.

* chorus * * chorus *
These icecaps allow bear to hunt for their prey –
when they’re forced to the water it’s a very bad day.
Now summer’s are hotter and the rain doesn’t fall –
Wha’ dup for the salmon who re-spawn to their call?

Their ticket to home is a freshwater flow,
but with creek levels down there’s nowhere to go.
Spring comes too soon and Fall sticks around
til the pesticide winter, can-not be found.

Then out come the beetles that cold air killed off,
but not any more cause winter’s gone soft.
So the pine trees are hit by these teeth that can chew
and the forests die off – it’s a ‘bye bye for you’.

So we’re messin’ with Climate, that’s capital C!
There’s nothing that’s bigger that affects you and me
One of us each year produces 5 tonnes of gas –
those pesky GHG’s that make climates change fast.

So give up a tonne, take a carbon weight diet –
you’ll like what it does, for the world – so go try it.
To lose 1000 kilos just think Power of One
the belief that one homey can shed a whole tonne.

* chorus * * chorus *
It begins with desire to use a lot less
of old-school-fossil-fuels that make such a mess,
Of all those good things that can’t take the heat
so step number one – move more with your feet.

Then think about turning over a new leaf,
not having a cow by saying ‘no thanks’ to beef.
Or deciding its time to ride public transit
and instead of buying new decide you can fix it.

Since transporting goods creates GHG’s,
buying local, second-hand or in season is key.
So lower the thermostat replace incandescents
with bulbs that are twisters called compact fluorescents.

Tune into efficiency of fuel that you use
so that weather disasters take less of the news
And shorten your showers then go plant some trees
on your way to off loading a tonne, if you please.

So whether you’re here or whether you’re there
just activate what is under your hair.
Cause those choices you make can add to the heat
or get Canada much closer to goals we must meet.

* chorus * * chorus *
To drive down those heat trappers below 6 percent
from nineteen-ninety levels ‘cause that’s our intent.
But right now we’re too high – by some 26 percent
The amount we must lose to meet our commitment.

Now 95 countries have joined in the fight
to shrink their emissions, to downsize their bite
of the energy pie that’s just not renewable
and spend some good coin on clean power that is doable.

Like hydrogen, wind, hydro and solar –
if we just get movin’, see green and go forward
Act now with resolve and de-termin-a-tion
and be done with the waiting and pro-crasti-nation.

So Homey you see KYOTO’s a good thing –
where the phrase “less is more” has a real nice ring.
So sister listen up and look at me bro
there’s stuff that needs doing so the future can grow.

Hey! I’ll say what needs saying not to see some folks squirm
but to speak for the P bear and hope we can learn.
Our home’s overheating, there’s lots we can do
So the question keeps comin’… If not you homey – who?

* chorus * * chorus *
Chorus:
I say homies – everywhere, Home’s a hurtin’- do you care?
I say homies – you and me, Home’s a hurtin’ can you see?
I say homies – thems the facts, Home’s a hurtin’ – will you act?