Julian Lennon Warns 'We're Killing Ourselves' By Not Caring About Environment: 'It's Horrifying' (Exclusive)

The singer-songwriter is teaming up with Future Youth Records' Think Earth campaign for a new Earth Day EP

For Julian Lennon, saving the environment has always been a top priority.

It's why he founded The White Feather Foundation in 2007, and why he wrote the seminal 1991 hit "Saltwater," about the emotions stirred when faced with the growing number of climate issues plaguing the Earth.

It's also why Lennon, 60, has teamed up with Future Youth Records' Think Earth campaign on a new EP called Think Earth 23 in celebration of Earth Day 2023.

"I always try to do something special on Earth Day one way or another," he says. "I tend to go with my gut on these things. And this was one of those project ideas that I thought, 'Okay, well I kind of like this.' Especially considering it was about a lot of the kids and their involvement in not only environmental and humanitarian issues, but the arts too, and music."

The EP's tracklist includes a new, reworked version of "Saltwater" covered by session musicians like Eva Gardner, Jim Keltner, Steve Porcaro, Laurence Juber and Willie Samuels, as well as a remix of Lennon's eco-minded new song "Save Me" by German youth artist Josh Heitzler. The rest of the songs are written by other artists partnered with Future Youth Records, a nonprofit label that helps kids make and distribute music promoting social justice.

The release is meant to raise funds for White Feather Foundation and its Save the Sea Country campaign for the Aboriginal Mirning people to help preserve critical biodiversity and their sacred culture.

"There are a lot of problems in the world, and there's a lot of people who are not doing anything about it in well-known positions. And I think [there are] those like myself who are empathetic and care about this world and the people in it," he says. "We're truly idiots. We're absolute idiots for not caring, for not understanding that we're killing ourselves. And the sad thing is a lot of wealthy people know that and just want to live their life to the nth degree, destroying everything in the process. So, it's just horrifying to see."

For Lennon, heading into the studio brought a welcome surprise in Keltner, a long time session drummer who famously worked with the singer's dad John Lennon and his former bandmates George Harrison and Ringo Starr on their solo albums.

Related:Julian Lennon Celebrates 60th Birthday with Brother Sean Lennon, Whom He Says 'Made My Night & Day'

"I had met him with my mom Cynthia on a number of occasions that Mum brought me over to America to rekindle and reconnect with Dad," he says. "So, we spent quite a lot of time with Jim Keltner and his family, and I haven't seen him since I was a kid. But he looked just the same."

The day after the project wrapped, the "Valotte" singer even serendipitously wound up sitting at a table next to Keltner and his wife Cynthia while out to dinner.

"Because of that connection, they sent me a picture that I'd never seen," he says. "My mom Cynthia and his wife Cynthia when I was about 10 years old. We've reunited. That was so special."

Related:Julian Lennon Says He 'Always Hoped' He'd Get to Place of Peace After Forgiving Dad John Years Ago

The singer-songwriter first wrote "Saltwater" more than 30 years ago after being moved by all that he saw while touring as a young man. Though he says it's "shocking" to still be in the same position all these decades later, he's hopeful about the recent surge of Gen Z-ers dedicating themselves to the cause, like Greta Thunberg and Alexandria Villaseñor.

"As far as I'm concerned, they're far more educated than us, and far more woke and aware than I certainly ever was," he says, noting that growing up, he had only three channels on the TV to spread the news. "There's a great deal more education because kids are just able to find things out themselves through the proper science. I think the headway kids are making these days is phenomenal."

He adds: "I encourage and applaud their strengths and their forward motion in all of this because they also won't back down because they know this is going to affect them. It is affecting them, will affect them and their life and their children, too. They're moving swiftly forward and knocking down as many walls as they can, and I'm right behind them in that."

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