Sustainable Baddie of the Week: Hila the Earth
🌞: Aquarius 🌙: Pisces ⬆: Scorpio
In a world where climate change and environmental degradation are regularly presented as mankind's rapture, we need activists who are finding innovative ways to catalyze change instead of adding to our collective helplessness. Eco-rapper and climate comedian Hila the Earth, uses the power of music and humor to educate and inspire others on climate and wellness. Combining the unlikely duo of rap music and comedy, Hila has created an entertaining, informative, and impactful style of activism to fight for a better Earth.
For Hila, falling in love with the Earth happened as many relationships do: to quote Hazel Grace Lancaster, “slowly, and then all at once.” Growing up in Lower Manhattan, Hila was no stranger to how city life can be removed from nature. While she spent her childhood vacations on the beaches of Tel Aviv, the overall lack of nature sparked a connection to it that came back into her adult life. Hila’s sustainability journey began with a desire to create less waste, then an attempt to avoid plastic, and finally trickled down into her artwork.
By 2016, Hila had met Nathan Oglesby, and a year later the duo released “I Am Plastic, Man” followed by the “Bring Your Own Cup” song. Both songs are educational raps that inspire the listener to think about choosing sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics. Hila the Earth’s most well-known tune is probably their rendition of “W.A.P” by Cardi B, their version standing for “Wet Ass Planet”. The rap went viral on TikTok and has garnered over 5.8 million views, with audiences dubbing Hila “Cardi Green" or “Megan Thee Advocate” and comments asking for more educational raps on climate and wellness topics.
Many of us scientifically challenged people only know anything about environmentalism because Hank Green, Ms. Frizzle, and Bill Nye found ways to make education fun and entertaining. Would we have wanted to learn that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell if The Magic School Bus hadn’t taken us on a journey into the cell?
“Not caring about the Earth is very normal. Not knowing what your clothes are made of or where your food comes from, these are things that are really normal for most people in America or in New York.” Hila says. Their music and comedy are helping to normalize environmental education by making heavy topics digestible.
Faced with such bright and fun eco-content, one wonders what the driving force behind the positivity might be. Hila's outlook on climate optimism is similar to their outlook on wellness. You are what you eat. She surrounds herself with the type of positivity she would like to further send out into the world. She emphasizes the importance of staying active, being outside, and connecting with people who really take care of their communities. But we realize delusional optimism isn’t exactly the best perspective when it comes to climate activism.
There needs to be a balance between knowing when to be angry, who to be angry at, supporting the right people, and looking for positive solutions. “I think a lot of us activists have to do both to keep our mental health good and to stay positive,” she says. Leaning too much toward either side of the spectrum of climate doom versus unrealistic positivity is a privilege many can’t afford. Neither promoting fear and doom as a catalyst for change nor being so blindly hopeful that you expect a magical fix are productive ways of inspiring change.
Communities need hope, but not delusion or complete surrender. “...that's the whole point of people's activism is to enjoy life, to celebrate life, to be happy and joyful here on Earth.”
Hila has always followed the connection between art, creation, and social consciousness to help others embrace their earthly contribution to humanity. When she first started rapping and performing stand-up, she was focused on body positivity and turning things that were stigmatized or taboo into things that could be celebrated through fun new perspectives. “That's a big part of my activism in general, is to make people feel more empowered and welcomed and, feeling positive about themselves and their bodies,” she says. Her song “Lil’ Dicks” is dedicated to acknowledging the harm in using penis size as measuring convention for sexual ability. Similarly, “Body Hair” celebrates the normal human function of growing and having body hair.
Self care, community care, and care for the planet all go hand-in-hand for Hila the Earth. The phrase “you are made of stardust”, which you may have seen take over your Tumblr dash circa 2014, is a lot truer about our chemical makeup than you’d think, and it informs Hila’s love for our planet,
“I always tell people, ‘you are the earth’. Me embodying the globe is just like a metaphor or a mirror for how we all are part of this planet.”
Hila honors the truth that we are closely related to the Earth and all its beings not only through sustainable practices and their eco-activism, but by caring for her physical well-being, staying active, and spending time outdoors. She urges people to care for their physical vessels, connect with their food and eat locally-grown fruits and veggies.
Hila also embodies the planet a bit more literally by dressing up as a giant Earth for their music videos. If you watch a Hila the Earth music video, you’ll see costumes that represent the topics she raps about, like an Earth, apple core, pretty penis, or pink vagina. A lot of Hila the Earth’s costumes are collaborations with other sustainable baddies like Sussy of Sexy Sustainability, who we featured as a Sustainable Baddie of the Week last September, L.A.-based designer Chase Koopersmith, and NYC-NOLA-based designer Joy Rhyde. These costumes are made from gifted and repurposed materials.
Besides working on educating the masses on climate and sexual wellness through song, Hila is also working to create comedic educational content about topics like the water cycle, the nitrogen cycle, sunlight and photosynthesis, trees, and even specific information about New York City’s ecology, in the form of the web series The Earth Show. Hila hopes to inspire others to learn about the unique ecological systems of their homes. “I've gotten to learn a lot about the ecology of the city and the people who are doing amazing eco work here. I want to elevate that because I feel like if we can get the majority of New Yorkers to care about their environment and to care about the Earth, that'd be an incredible feat, and that can translate to anywhere else in the world.”
Back to the rapture that is climate change, there is a potential reality where our changing environment will leave humans without a habitable home. Hila’s latest project, a collaboration with Save the Humans, turns this reality into a joyful call to action. Save the Humans is a collective that aims to bring joy, imagination, and humor to the discourse around climate. Their name is a play on the Save the Whales campaign because now we’re the ones who are at risk if we’re complicit. Hila the Earth’s song “Joyful Action” is an upbeat, celebratory song that reminds us all that we can be better humans and take action with a positive mindset when it comes to respecting our Earth, loving each other, and our existence on this W.A.P (Wet Ass Planet).
As Hila the Earth raps her way into people's hearts and minds, the world gains precious resources that pair education with action. We can’t wait to see her raps become part of educational systems worldwide. She reminds us all that activism and loving the Earth can be funny, joyful, and enjoyable. Let’s join her in letting go of fear, anxiety, and doom and leave with her words “here we are, we're alive. What a blessing. Let's make every day the best that it can be.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported Hila the Earth’s name.