We all love our local environment, whether it be the beaches, the parks, the Downs, or just our back gardens. But we all also hate having that local environment trashed by litter, especially plastic litter. Which is why the drive to get rid of plastic pollution, to make Eastbourne a Plastic Free Town, has to be a journey of love. Serendipitously, a new song, and a music video to go with it, has just been launched on YouTube, written and performed by a local singer-songwriter David Stopp, which is called ‘Journey of Love’, celebrating a world which becomes free of plastic pollution.
This song was written especially for the Plastic Free Eastbourne campaign and features not only David but also many local people helping out with beach cleans. It also features a scary Trash Man seen lurking around Eastbourne’s beaches (editor’s note: we can reveal exclusively that Trash Man is known in the human realm as Daniel Mason-Bond. We salute his shape-shifting abilities!). The music video was created by a local film crew, headed up by Anna Winter & Tom Potter, who donated their services for free, a journey of love in itself!
The song itself, as well as becoming a flag bearer for the Plastic Free Eastbourne campaign, also deserves to become a smash hit due to its catchy tune and sing-along qualities. David’s passionate concern for nature and wildlife means he has a long history of helping out with environmental campaigns, so he readily engaged with the Plastic Free Eastbourne goal of getting rid of single-use plastics from the town, and the song he wrote was truly from the heart, especially as he saw at first-hand just how bad plastic pollution could be when he visited some of the beaches in Thailand when he was on holiday there a few years ago.
David Stopp, the singer-songwriter himself, said: “It’s truly been a Journey of Love for me with all involved: Andrew Durling, Oliver Sterno, Anna Winter Tom Potter, Jane Wilde and all those who took part in the beach clean, not forgetting the Trash Man, Daniel Mason-Bond, himself!”
Oliver Sterno, Community Leader for the Plastic Free Eastbourne campaign said: “This inspirational video has already created a positive impact in our town. Its theme is topical and universal: everyone can identify with its persuasive story. It deals with a frightening unfolding tragedy in a positive, witty and optimistic manner, encouraging the viewer to take personal responsibility and to take action in order to bring about communal change.”
Anna Winter, from the film crew, said: “It has been wonderful being involved with Plastic Free Eastbourne during this project. I have been amazed at how many of Eastbourne’s residents are passionate about cleaning up our beaches and changing their habits for the benefit of our town, and of course, for the world. It gives me a lot of hope for the future and has certainly had an impact on my own habits. I am looking forward to seeing Plastic Free Eastbourne’s next steps!”
Tom Potter, also from the film crew, said: “Making this film really gave me an insight in ways we can better ourselves for our planet. I hope it does the same for those who view it as well”.
Eastbourne MP, Stephen Lloyd, an enthusiastic supporter of Plastic Free Eastbourne, said, “I think this is a tremendous song from local musician, David Stopp. The message is wonderfully clear but also enhanced by an upbeat tune which means the listener isn’t bludgeoned over the head polemically. Well done David! The excellent video put together by Anna Winter and Tom Potter demonstrates high production values that wouldn’t seem out of place on MTV” (editor’s note: does anybody still watch MTV?).
Andrew Durling, Co-ordinator of Eastbourne Friends of the Earth, said: “Our group is part of the Plastic Free Eastbourne campaign and our members have enthusiastically participated in the beach cleans organised by the campaign. We also helped to make the music video and David is one of our most active members anyway, so we’re enormously proud of him and the song he has written. We feel that the song is so good that it deserves to become a smash hit nationally and it certainly has a huge feel-good factor, painting as it does a world free of plastic pollution. What a great world that would be! The song has a very catchy tune as well as a chorus that everybody can sing along with! The music video also showcases local film-making talent and features Eastbourne’s wonderful beach life, so it will certainly help put Eastbourne on the map in a very good way”.
The song, wholly produced in Eastbourne by Eastbourne residents, is available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/UMhM0Qj0bEc. Please share this link with your own networks and let’s see if we can make the song go viral, helping to put Eastbourne’s plastic-free nature and the immensely creative talents of Eastbourne people on the map! By the way, you can show your appreciation of the song by making a donation of TUBES, a digital currency that rewards artists and content creators like David Stopp. Just click the red ‘Donate Tubes’ box below the YouTube video (but you will need to get the BitTube app first and earn some Tubes with it; just go to bittubeapp.com).
