‘Happy’ Pharrell mobbed at UN General Assembly

Guards rushed into the crowd in fear of a stampede as singer came on stage.

The United Nations declared an International Day of Happiness, which coincides with the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere in 2012 after an initiative by Bhutan, the Himalayan land that measures ‘Gross National Happiness’ instead of a standard economic indicator.

Pop star and ‘Happy’ hitmaker, Pharrell Williams, addressed the UN General Assembly on the ‘International Day of Happiness’ as he raised his voice on the perils of climate change, according to AFP, reports Al-Arabiya News.

After he spoke, his song came on the speakers of the normally sombre hall as dozens of teenagers and younger children raced toward him with their camera phones in hopes he would dance. UN security officials and guards rushed into the crowd in fear of a stampede as an official took the microphone to urge everyone to step back.

“You should know that happiness is your birthright,” Williams told the hundreds of assembled children, whose placards all read “#happyplanet” instead of the usual names of UN member states. “If you don’t take care of your home, you don’t have a life, so we have to transition now from climate change to climate action,” he said.

Williams has been working with former US vice-president Al Gore to organise global concerts in June to build public pressure for a UN-backed agreement on climate change at a conference later this year in Paris.

Environmentalist Philippe Cousteau Jr joined Williams to caution that climate change’s effects were looking even worse than originally thought, pointing to Cyclone Pam, which recently ravaged the Pacific island of Vanuatu, as well as the rapidly melting Arctic ice.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2015.

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