We can all do something to help fight climate change. My way is with music.

My name is Penny Johnson and I compose music under the name Penny Squire. I’m a 78 year old grandmother and have been concerned about global warming since the mid 1970s, trying to live my life by being part of the solution not part of the problem.

At that time it was felt that the effects of climate change wouldn’t show for 100 years. Actions were promised over the years by leaders but nothing changed. The situation got more urgent, but still many people were vocal climate change deniers.

I felt very frustrated about this so I wrote a piece of music for string quartet called Troubled Planet. On hearing this on my computer my youngest daughter said why don’t I make it into a film.This seemed a ridiculous idea –  I had never heard of YouTube and had no idea that people were putting videos on the internet.

But I decided to give it a go. I contacted Greenpeace, and as my film was to be not-for-profit they gave me permission to use film clips  from their archives. I spent weeks looking through their wonderful collection. and learnt a lot.

My nephew is a sound engineer and a friend of his a film editor. A professional string quartet agreed to have their playing of it recorded, and I set off on a great new adventure meeting some lovely people.

I released my first 1/4 hour film ‘Troubled Planet’ on the same day that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published their report on the need to keep the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees.

‘Troubled Planet’ is followed by ‘Walking With Nature’, ‘Healing The Earth’ and ‘A New Way’ which can be found here.

My most recent film and musical composition is ’This Beautiful Planet’ which shows some of the rich diversity of life that shares this planet with us, and finishes with a short look at the previous films.

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Penny is a composer, gardener, and environmentalist. You can learn more about her here.