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Singer-producer Williams, 41, partnered with the United
Nations Foundation on the International Day of Happiness to
raise awareness and call for more action on climate change.
"If you look at our behavior is hard to believe we’re all aware
we only have one planet," Williams said in a General Assembly
hall crowded with young people. "My main inspiration for being
here today is that we’re in trouble, but we can change that.
This earth is our home."
The star is the creative director of the Live Earth movement,
which campaigns for a climate deal to be reached before a global
summit takes place in Paris in December.
At January's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,
Williams and former U.S. vice-president Al Gore announced that a
Live Earth music event to demand action on climate change will
take place across seven continents, including Antarctica, on
June 18.
As part of the celebrations of International Day of Happiness,
the U.N. Foundation and Williams launched the "Happy Party for a
Happy Planet" campaign and created a
website(globalhappyparty.com) with the support of Google where
people can upload photos of themselves which will then be
assembled in an animated image set to Williams' hit song
"Happy".
"Music brought me happiness… You should know happiness is your
birthright," Williams told the young audience.
"On this day we are using the universal language of music to
show solidarity with the millions of people around the world
suffering from poverty, human rights abuses, humanitarian crises
and the effects of environmental degradation and climate
change,” United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a
video message.
As the event wrapped up, the audience got up and started dancing
to "Happy".
Williams later greeted young fans who swarmed the General
Assembly hall's stage, sending U.N. security momentarily into
panic as it struggled to contain the wave of screaming young
people and their parents.
Earlier this week, Charlize Theron, Michael Douglas, James
Blunt, Ed Sheeran and John Legend, among other celebrities,
joined the United Nations #HappySoundsLike campaign to create
"the world's happiest playlist."
The International Day of Happiness was established in 2012 by
the United Nations General Assembly to recognize the importance
of happiness and well-being as "universal goals and aspirations
in the lives of people around the world."
(Reporting by Maria Caspani, Editing by Lisa Anderson)
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