One of the climate action initiatives was to form an eco-song writing group, which we did. Songwriters and musicians met in November 2023, March, and April 2024.  These gatherings were an energizing experience. Friendships formed and collaborations happened. Salmon Run, one of the songs I wrote and that Eco-song participants helped me perform at the 48th Rally for Peace Social Justice and the Environment on April 20th, will be out on May 22nd. Leon Racicot, a musician and producer, who attended the workshop, helped me bring Salmon Run to its final state.

Salmon are threatened here in B.C. and elsewhere. As the Insititute for the Oceans and Fisheries at UBC puts it: “Pacific salmon are of fundamental importance to the economic, social and environmental well-being of the Pacific northwest. Since the late 1990s, however, wild salmon stocks in the region have declined markedly…. A natural resource of such extraordinary ecological, socio-economic, and cultural value merits greater respect, but the present systems are failing them with little prospect for change.” Last year’s wildfires, for example at the Adams River, have only compounded the problem.

This dire situation provoked me to write “Salmon Run,” my band Intensive Care’s latest song, released on all platforms on May 22nd, the International Day for Biological Diversity and in time for B.C. Wild Salmon Day, June 1st.

Please help me to raise awareness of this crisis by checking out “Salmon Run,” adding it to your playlists, and sharing it with your friends! If you are interested in supporting production of some powerful songs by other members in the group, please contact me. With gratitude, George Johnson.

See the full lyrics here. An excerpt:

Salmon show us not to
Take more than you need
As the first peoples knew
Or fall prey to greed
 
If salmon could talk
They’d share with us
Wisdom of the ages
A sacred trust