Earth Day, April 22, 2017. It started when I entered high school 47 years ago, on the first day of spring April 21 as a proposal by peace activist John McConnell at a 1969 United Nations Educational, Science, and Cultural Organization conference in San Francisco. McConnell wrote a declaration for the Secretary General of the UN, which sanctioned the day. The following month, Senator Nelson (D-WI) founded a separate Earth Day for the United States as a teach-in for the environment, to be held on the 22nd of April.
The environmental movement was influenced and had started much earlier, by people like John J. Audubon, Sierra Club founder John Muir, and organizations like Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, the Smithsonian Institute and the National Geographic Society. Ecologic and environmental activism groups founded since the first Earth Day includes the World Wildlife Fund, Earth First, Greenpeace, National Wildlife Federation, National Resource Defense Council, Forest Stewardship Council, Rainforest Action Network, Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund, Friends of the Earth, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the EPA, Earth Liberation Front, American Rivers and the Walden Woods Project. These are just the groups I have either heard of, read about, or have made donations to.
Welcome to Backyard Science’s (The) Daily Bucket. Here readers and authors comment on what’s happening in the natural world around us. Topics can be anything to do with nature and the ecosystems we find in our own backyards and neighborhoods. We encourage stories ranging from astronomy and botany to the weather and zoology. Please include your general area, and any related photos. We love photos!
Before the first Earth Day, music had been a tool in telling the story of our human condition. Music has always had an appeal to me in expressing stories and feelings. I grew up listening to the artists my parents enjoyed; like Nat King Cole, Harry Belafonte, The Baja Marimba Band, Herb Alpert, Perez Prado, and even albums of John Phillips Sousa compositions. My tastes at the time ranged from folk to rock to Motown. Anti-war songs played on both AM and FM during the Vietnam War. en.wikipedia.org/... I liked hearing Fortunate Son, Galveston, Give Me Love, Imagine, Love Train, Turn Turn Turn, War, What’s Going On, and many other anti-conflict compositions during the War in Vietnam.
Music related to eco activism gained popularity during this same period, existing before the first Earth Day. Wikipedia has a more complete list, en.wikipedia.org/... than just my favorites. These are songs and groups I listened to, bought the albums (or 45’s), and still recall (or own) to this day. Some of these still get airplay on classic rock stations.
We are now in 2017, five hundred and eight years before any of our possible descendants will be alive; “In the Year 2525”. The Zager and Evans song from 1969 foretold of a possible future humanity might be facing.
In the year 2525, if man is still alive, If woman can survive, they may find …
In the year 6565, You won't need no husband, won't need no wife, You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too, From the bottom of a long glass tube … (we are near to doing this already)
In the year 9595, I'm kinda wonderin', if man is gonna be alive, He's taken everything this old earth can give, And he ain't put back nothing
Now it's been ten thousand years, Man has cried a billion tears, For what he never knew, now man's reign is through, But through eternal night, the twinkling of starlight, So very far away, maybe it's only yesterday
Songwriter – R.L. Evans
Since that first Earth Day, I’ve become evermore concerned with what we are doing to our planet, Driving the mountain highways of California in the 70’s and 80’s, I couldn’t help but notice the thinning foliage of the conifers. Whether this was from untreated exhaust spewing from leaded gasoline vehicles, acid rain from new catalytic equipped ones, the pavement disturbing the root systems, or salt used to help melt snow, it could only have been from a human source. Trees further off the roads remained looking healthy, with full branches on all sides.
Stereo was still a fairly new recording standard (1968) for albums. An audiophile had to either buy the entire album or hope the single 45 was recorded in stereo. Apple Records (not that Apple) of Abbey Road fame and the Beatles was one of the first recording studio to standardize 45 stereophonic releases. Dunhill’s 45rpm release of the 1970 song by Three Dog Night, “Out in the Country”, was the first eco activist song I purchased.
Whenever I need to leave it all behind, Or feel the need to get away-ay-ay, I find a quiet place, far from the human race, Out in the country …
Whenever I feel them closing in on me, Or need a bit of room to move, When life becomes too fast, I find relief at last, Out in the country
Before the breathin' air is gone, Before the sun is just a bright spot in the night-time, Out where the rivers like to run, I stand alone and take back somethin' worth rememberin'
Songwriters: P. Williams / R. Nichols
Every so often, I just needed to get out of the Bay Area. Climbing on my bike one afternoon, I rode up Highway 108 over Sonora Pass, cut north on 395, and descended through Ebbetts pass down Highway 4. Another favorite afternoon trip found me riding up Alum Rock in San Jose to Mt. Hamilton (State Route 130) to travel that California back road and come out in Livermore. The Hamilton range was mostly grassland, manzanita, oaks and digger pines. The coast range had some grasses and oaks, but was dominated along Skyline Blvd, Highway 9 and the side roads of the Santa Cruz Mountains by coastal redwoods. If you are in the area (and it is still open), drop in to the place made famous by Arlo Guthrie, Alice’s Restaraunt. Those of you living in the South Bay, have many options to drive, motorcycle or ride a bike a short distance and get out in the country. The size of your backyard is only limited by your imagination.
While I never owned the 1970 Joni Mitchell song, “Big Yellow Taxi”, the lyrics were unforgettable and still provide a relevant cautionary warning. She was inspired by construction she saw from her hotel during a vacation to Hawaii. She hung out in the SoCal Laurel Canyon music scene.
They paved paradise, And put up a parking lot, With a pink hotel, a boutique, And a swinging hot spot, Don't it always seem to go, That you don't know what you've got 'Till it's gone …
They took all the trees, And put them in a tree museum, And they charged all the people, A dollar and a half to see 'em …
Hey farmer farmer, Put away that D.D.T. now, Give me spots on my apples, But leave me the birds and the bees, Please …
Songwriter - Joni Mitchell
This process continues to be a slow moving disaster, the paving of farmland in the Central Valley for housing tracts and strip malls is appalling. The bees and butterflies populations are suffering from toxins and herbicide ready crops, and corporations continue to attack our wild areas for their profits, leaving behind a mess for our children to fix. Anyone who has flown over the Cascades on their way to Seattle can look down and see what looks like results of a nervous barber in the huge clear cuts among the healthy strips of forests. We can change the landscape, but not IMO for the better. An example of our destructive forestry practices can be found on Google Earth Pro @ 44 degrees 40 minutes and 44 seconds N and 122 degrees 26 minutes and 44 seconds W or hopefully by this link here; www.google.com/…
In my opinion, the 1971 Marvin Gaye song, “Mercy Mercy Me (the Ecology)”, epitomizes the Earth Day ethos. The observations preserved for posterity are even worse now than when they were originally set to vinyl.
Where did all the blue sky go? (Not so blue anymore) , Poison is the wind that blows, From the north, east, south, and sea …
Oil wasted on the oceans and upon our seas (Pick a spill) , Fish full of mercury …
Radiation in the ground and in the sky (like Hanford), Animals and birds who live nearby are dying
Oh, mercy mercy me, Oh, things ain't what they used to be, What about this overcrowded land? (7 .5 billion and climbing), How much more abuse from man can you stand?
Songwriter: M. Gaye
Flying to Hawaii or across the US (and I suspect anywhere in the world) a pervasive brown haze extends across the horizon, all caused by mankind. From the Exxon Valdez to the Deepwater Horizon disasters, we continue to mismanage oil extraction in the seas and on the lands. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima all resulted in potential or real radiation releases because we overestimated our ability or underestimated the science and planetary forces.
In 1971, John Denver released a song, “The Eagle and the Hawk” on an album called Aerie for an ABC documentary. One of my favorite and most prolific environmental songwriters, when I mistakenly switched from vinyl to digital disc (CD), John’s greatest hits albums and Rocky Mountain High made it into my updated library. While the song is not about our negative impact on the land, water or sky, it reminds us of what is being endangered by the possible dismantling of the EPA and privatization of public lands, with hope for the future.
I am the eagle, I live in high country, In rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky … Share in the freedom, I feel when I fly, Come dance with the west wind, and touch on the mountain tops, Sail over the canyons and up to the stars, And reach for the heavens, and hope for the future, And all that we can be and not what we are (Shades of, “Yes We Can”)
Songwriters: J. Denver / M. Taylor
While I wanted to learn how to fly, money and time just never matched the desire. The closest I could get was in flying in private aircraft, airliners (propeller and jet) and a paid for glider excursion. I used this song for a background score of a video of my soaring flight over the Fremont Hills. IMO the closest experience for us earthbound and cash strapped citizens is riding a motorcycle (like flying, every turn is banked).
The early 70’s was a fertile time for both anti-war and environmental type songs. In 1972, the band America released their hit, “A Horse With No Name”. Another of my favorite California based groups, they were not to my knowledge based at the same Laurel Canyon scene as other groups on my referenced eco promoting music list were.
On the first part of the journey I was looking at all the life, There were plants and birds and rocks and things, There was sand and hills and rings, The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz, And the sky with no clouds. The heat was hot and the ground was dry, But the air was full of sound …
After two days in the desert sun, My skin began to turn red, After three days in the desert fun, I was looking at a river bed, And the story it told of a river that flowed, Made me sad to think it was dead …
After nine days I let the horse run free, 'Cause the desert had turned to sea, There were plants and birds and rocks and things there was sand and hills and rings, The ocean is a desert with it's life underground, And a perfect disguise above, Under the cities lies a heart made of ground, But the humans will give no love
You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name It felt good to be out of the rain In the desert you can remember your name 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
Songwriter: D. Bunnell
I enjoy a song that can transport me from here and now, to a different location. This song reminds me of the desicated lower Colorado River before it reaches the Gulf of California, IMO, a good song will draw me in, where I become a witness or character and part of what is being sung. When the lyrics and music mesh well, a song can become art, like a play, movie, painting, poem, or photograph.
In 1972, when John Denver released his Rocky Mountain High album, he cemented his position as a conservationist and environmental spokesman. Three songs from this album spoke to his concerns and love of the planet. The first song, “Paradise”, covers continuing issues in the forms of the poverty of Appalachia, strip mining, mountain top removal, settling ponds, and the Freedom Industries’ chemical spill on the Elk River.
When I was a child, my family would travel, Down to western Kentucky where my parents were born, And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered, So many times that my mem'ries are worn …
Well sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River, To the abandoned old prison down by Adrie Hill …
And the coal company came with the world's largest shovel, And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land, Well they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken, Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County, Down by the Green River where Paradise lay, Well I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking, Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
Songwriter: J. Prine 1971
Clean coal is an oxymoron, IOKIYAR to call it an Alternative Fact, but a lie is still a lie. In April of 2016, the company named in the song filed for Chapter 11 citing many reasons in legalese. I suspect it has as much to do with dropping coal prices as the costs of restoration, remediation, and environmental cleanup costs from years of raping the land. Yet, Mitch McConnell seems to ignore the facts, condemning his constituents to unhealthy poverty, continued habitat destruction, and environmental degradation including toxic drinking water.
John Denver’s signature song, “Rocky Mountain High” is possibly his best work on the environment and in many ways autobiographical. I was fortunate enough to leave the Bay Area and move to the Sierras, and in ways this song spoke to my 41 year old soul when I did. It still does to this day, ever since I first heard it as a teen in 1972.
He was born in the summer of his 27th year, Coming home to a place he'd never been before …
When he first came to the mountains his life was far away, On the road and hanging by a song …
He climbed cathedral mountains, he saw silver clouds below, He saw everything as far as you can see …
His sight has turned inside himself to try and understand The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake …
Now his life is full of wonder but his heart still knows some fear, Of a simple thing he cannot comprehend, Why they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more, More people, more scars upon the land …
I know he'd be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly …
Rocky mountain high
Songwriters: M.C. Taylor / J. Denver
We can find splendor every where in nature; the deserts, the coastlines, the plains, and the mountains. I prefer the mountains. From the desert Southwest buttes and monuments, the Rockies above Salt Lake City, the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, the Cascades, and the Sierras from Tehachapi to north of Lake Tahoe.
John Denver also covered the Beatles’ “Mother Nature’s Son”, from their 1968 White Album.
Born a poor young country boy, Mother Nature's son. All day long I'm sitting singing songs for everyone. Sit beside a mountain stream, see her waters rise. Listen to the pretty sound of music as she flies. Find me in my field of grass, Mother Nature's son. Swaying daises sing a lazy song beneath the sun.
Songwriters: J. Lennon / P. McCartney
There is a supreme peace that I feel from siting by an unspoiled mountain stream. The sounds of the water flowing over shallow riffles and around rocks, splashing down cascades, a trout jumping after a midge and birdsong floating above it all; background noises of civilization and any need to complete inane tasks all fade away. Getting back to nature means connecting with what we have become separate from and then misplaced.
Growing up as a teen at that time, I always looked forward to the television specials of “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau”. In 1975 John Denver wrote the song “Calypso” a tribute to his personal friend and the crew of the research vessel.
To sail on a dream, On a crystal clear ocean, To ride on the crest, Of a wild raging storm, To work in the service, Of life and the living, In search of the answers, To questions unknown, To be part of the movement, Part of the growing, Part of beginning, To understand …
Aye Calypso, the places you've been to, The things that you've shown us, the stories you tell, Aye Calypso, I sing to your spirit, The men who have served you so long and so well
Songwriter: J. Denver
Some Backyard Science members live in the Pacific Northwest, some on the West or East Coasts, and some Kos members in other areas surrounded or bordered by the seas. If you make it to the westernmost state, take the time to go snorkeling in Hanauma Bay on Oahu, where tropical reef fish will swim up to your mask. If you go to the Big Island, you may find yourself sharing the black sands of Panaluu with a Honu (Green Sea Turtle).
Another of my favorite groups to come out of California’s Laurel Canyon scene (like Mitchell) is one everybody has probably heard of. Like them or hate them, the talent of the members in both their composing and lyrics led to nearly 40 years of collaborative and individual success. In 1976, The Eagles released their fifth album. In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Don Henley said,
“The Last Resort”, on Hotel California, is still one of my favorite songs... That's because I care more about the environment than about writing songs about drugs or love affairs or excesses of any kind. The gist of the song was that when we find something good, we destroy it by our presence — by the very fact that man is the only animal on earth that is capable of destroying his environment. The environment is the reason I got into politics: to try to do something about what I saw as the complete destruction of most of the resources that we have left. We have mortgaged our future for gain and greed.
Further insight can be found here: en.wikipedia.org/... Founded in 1990 by recording artist Don Henley, the Walden Woods Project uses the land it has protected in Walden Woods to foster an ethic of environmental stewardship and social responsibility, both cornerstones of Henry David Thoreau’s philosophy.
They spoke about the red man's way, how they loved the land, And they came from everywhere to the Great Divide, Seeking a place to stand or a place to hide …
Somebody laid the mountains low while the town got high, Then the chilly winds blew down, Across the desert, through the canyons of the coast, to the Malibu …
Some rich men came and raped the land, Nobody caught 'em, Put up a bunch of ugly boxes, and Jesus people bought 'em …
The place to be, They watched the hazy sun, sinking in the sea …
'Cause there is no more new frontier, We have got to make it here, We satisfy our endless needs, and justify our bloody deeds, in the name of destiny, and in the name of God …
They call it paradise, I don't know why, You call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye
Songwriters: D. Henley / G. Frey
Those of us who grew up as boomers, have born witness to the expansionism across the country. What were once places where we played, hunted, or fished, have been urbanized and replaced with housing and strip malls. Finding nature in our backyards is getting harder, since both the wild environment and the animal populations are shrinking. Hopefully we can stop the pillaging and keep lands set aside for the nature that we often lose to so called American or societal interests.
I have an eclectic taste in music (possibly a genetic gift from my parents), listening to soft, hard, country, folk, and southern rock, modern jazz and country western. In 1991, I bought John Anderson’s “Seminole Wind”, which I had heard on the radio. I purchased the CD for the title song, and because Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler played guitar on a couple of the songs.
Ever since the days of old, Men would search for wealth untold. They'd dig for silver and for gold, And leave the empty holes. And way down south in the Everglades, Where the black water rolls and the saw grass sways. The eagles fly and the otters play, In the land of the Seminole …
Progress came and took its toll, And in the name of flood control, They made their plans and they drained the land, Now the glades are going dry. And the last time I walked in the swamp, I sat upon a Cypress stump, I listened close and I heard the ghost, Of Osceola cry …
So blow, blow Seminole wind, Blow like you're never gonna blow again. I'm calling to you like a long lost friend, But I know who you are. And blow, blow from the Okeechobee, All the way up to Micanopy. Blow across the home of the Seminole, The alligators and the gar.
Songwriter: J. Anderson
As the Central Valley of California has been torn asunder for strip malls and housing tracts, the coastline of Florida has been developed for retirement condos and tourism. Last week fires were raging across much of Florida because the swamps have been drained, channeled and there is drought. In my last bucket I touched on the damage caused by invasive species released by men. Our environmental impact crosses all boundaries. We should all try to minimize any potential damage we may cause.
When The Eagles released their last studio album in 2007, it was a must buy for me. Long Road Out of Eden continued their trend of singing about social issues, including the symptoms of decline in America (somewhat prescient). The song, “No More Walks in the Woods”, is the latest of the songs I own relating to ecology.
The trees have all been cut down, And where once they stood, Not even a wagon rut, Appears along the path, Low brush is taking over …
This is the aftermath, Of afternoons in the clover fields, Where we once made love, Then wandered home together, Where the trees arched above, Where we made our own weather, When branches were the sky, Now they are gone for good
Songwriters: D. Henley / S. Smith / J. Hollander
On this Earth Day when we celebrate our planet home, pull out your iPhone, CD’s or tapes (does anyone still have these?) and sing along with your favorite songs about ecology, activism, and saving the wildlife we love. Share a comment on your favorite Eco Activism song or artist. If you are more a visual person send us a photo of an eco activity, go for a bike ride, walk, skiing, to the beach, the mountains, a river, or sit and watch a show about the planet, maybe even rerun ‘An Inconvenient Truth’.
If you have loads of energy after your week at work, get involved with a march, protest, or rally celebrating Earth Day. Go out with your like minded friends, Kos members, or any volunteers heading out to clean up your local beach, park, or stream. Remember Joni’s warning, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
Be sure to peruse Meteor Blade’s valuable "Spotlight on Green News & Views,” every Saturday at 5pm Pacific Time and every Wednesday at 3:30 Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Please recommend and comment in the diary.