Ritu Jha-
Indian music composer and double Grammy winner Ricky Kej will perform at the annual Aquarium of the Bay Blue Marble benefit, to be held in the heart of Silicon Valley at the San Jose Metropolis Corridor Rotunda. The event is being organized on October 24 to mark United Nations Day.
Kej, also an environmentalist, will perform along with Lonnie Park, a Grammy-nominated musician and music producer, and Reside Jazz performances by Radio Gatsby.
Both Kej and Park have performed together in India.
George Jacob FRCGS, President & CEO of Bay Ecotarium in San Francisco, told indica, “Kej is a multi-Grammy winner known for his activism on climate and oceans. His songs resonate with this theme and inspire change.”
Jacob said the Blue Marble event is less of a gala and more about recognizing and honoring “those among us who have risen to the challenge of protecting the fragile ecosystems of our planet.” Each year, the Blue Marble is held in a different location in the Bay Area to engage local communities and a wider demographic.
“We chose this day as the UN was born in San Francisco 77 years ago,” Jacob said about hosting the benefit on Oct 24 which is celebrated around the world as United Nations Day. He said, “It is time for the birth of another UN- United Nature.”
He said the Climate and Ocean Conservation Living Museum being planned in San Francisco addresses the growing gap between awareness and action by connecting the dots that precipitate climate crises.
“For the last 41 years we have served the Bay Area communities through the seven branches of our non-profit including the Smithsonian Affiliated SF Aquarium of the Bay, the Bay Institute, the Bay Model, the Sea Lion Center, Eco Center Park at Bay View Hunters Pointe et al, serving millions and providing free education to 70,000 kids each year,” Jacob said.
“We are in the process of transforming the Aquarium on the Embarcadero to a $260 million Global Climatorium with a web of Climate Literacy Centers around the world,” he said.
The first lady, Dr. Jill Biden delivered the Keynote at the unveiling of the vision.
The BayEcotarium, on Oct 20, also won the 2022 Architecture Press Release (APR) Global Future Silver Design Award. APR recognizes and celebrates a wide range of projects featuring design innovations and intelligence from across the world.
They are also currently developing Master Plans and Concept Designs for Norway, Greece, Romania, Galapagos and Jamaica. Early plans are also afoot to create a web of climatoriums across India.
The Oct 24 event has lined up a series of speakers, including Hunter Pence as the keynote speaker.
San Jose Mayor Sam Licardo and Silicon Valley chief George Kurian, Chief Government Officer of NetApp, will honor California’s Local weather and Ocean heroes who have made a distinct impact on the communities they serve and the causes that they uphold in strengthening our surroundings.
ABC7 Information Anchor Dan Ashley will be the Master of Ceremonies.
