Power the World – Linkin Park x UN x Sustainable Energy for All: Videos, Pictures, Press

So here’s the announcement Mike Shinoda tweeted about yesterday:

Energy is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity the world faces today. Whether relating to jobs, security, climate change, food production or income-generating activity, access to sustainable energy is essential for strengthening economies, protecting ecosystems, and achieving social equity.

However, more than 1.4 billion people worldwide have no access to electricity, and 1 billion more have only intermittent access. Additionally, some 2.5 billion people– almost half of humanity– rely on traditional biomass for cooking and heating.
Linkin Park and Music for Relief have pledged to support the UN Secretary-General to help achieve Sustainable Energy for All through Power the World.

Join us to help bring sustainable energy solutions to 1 million families.
Empower the Planet. Power the World.

Learn more about the year of Sustainable Energy for All here.

-Linkin Park

That’s such a great new relief effort! I didn’t even know that so many people live without power. This is a more detailed press release by “Sustainable Energy for All”:

New York, NY — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the support of the Grammy award winning rock band Linkin Park for his “Sustainable Energy for All Initiative.”

The band will utilize its extensive social media presence, including more than 36 million Facebook fans, and draw on its significant public profile to mobilize support for the Secretary-General’s Initiative and sustainable energy projects worldwide.

Read more…

Linkin Park also visited the UN Headquarters today and met Secretery-General Ban Ki-Moon! Here are the video of the press conference, the UN’s press release and some pictures:

There’s a longer video here. Unfortunately I can’t download or embed it here, so you just gotta click the link.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with Grammy award-winning Linkin Park band members at UN Headquarters | Photo: UN

8 November 2011 –
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed members of the award-winning alternative rock band Linkin Park to United Nations Headquarters in New York, where they announced their commitment to support his initiative aimed at ensuring universal energy access by 2030.

“I don’t know much about rock music. I stopped listening after Elvis!” Mr. Ban quipped during a press briefing. “But this much I do know: bands such as Linkin Park reach tens of millions of people.”

The Secretary-General spoke about the band’s continuous support in the past for humanitarian causes, including other UN initiatives such as their contribution to the “Not Alone” video, which sought to raise awareness and funds for Haiti after it was hit by a devastating earthquake last year.

“More than nine million people have seen the ‘Not Alone’ video, which helped our work in Haiti after the earthquake. So it was natural that I should ask them to support my Sustainable Energy for All initiative – another UN effort to build the future we want.”

The initiative was launched in September, and at its core is the vision of achieving universal access to modern energy services, doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, all by 2030.

Currently, some 1.4 billion people worldwide are estimated to lack access to electricity, with another billion having to deal with unreliable electricity networks. In total, nearly three billion people rely on solid fuels such as coal or traditional biomass for their basic cooking and heating.

“Sustainable Energy for All will help us to reduce poverty, drive economic dynamism, reduce the risks of climate change and protect the planet – all at the same time,” Mr. Ban said.

“We can turn on the lights in every household and turn down the global thermostat,” he added. “Linkin Park can help us spread this message.”

“We want to raise visibility of the issue and we want to help spread the word,” said Michael Shinoda, the band’s vocalist. “We also want to make a difference on the ground. We are enlisting the help of our fans to achieve both.”

Photo: Mike Shinoda