Earth Songs

Earth Songs … a collection of environmental songs (ecology music), albums, and songbooks with lyrics that promote the love and protection of the Earth, and links to related resources.

Modern science, and even economics, tell us that global environmental protection is a necessity and must become a greater priority. But what we know in our minds isn’t enough to inspire action. We need to feel with our hearts the magnitude of our responsibility to care for the earth. And music is one of the best ways to do that.

Music is, and always has been, a primary motivator for humans. As songwriter Joyce Rouse (aka “Earth Mama”) observes: “Music is the jet fuel for every important movement!”

 La Marseillaise was valuable to the French Revolution.   During the 1960’s civil rights movement, songs like We Shall Overcome were a major element of the effort.   Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted, “In a sense, songs are the soul of a movement.”

Nkosi Sikeleli’s music was helpful during the South African struggle against apartheid.

In Estonia, between 1987 and 1991, hundreds of thousands of Estonians gathered publicly to sing forbidden patriotic songs and share protest speeches, risking their lives to proclaim their desire for independence. Their successful effort became the the Singing Revolution where the Estonian people strategically and willfully sung their way to freedom — and helped topple an empire along the way.

Another contemporary example of the power of song applies to Women’s Rights, as recorded in the new book, Songs of the Suffragists: Lyrics of American Feminism from 1850 to 2020. 

“Singing together helps us experience in the body our connection to each other and the planet, summons our collective courage, enlivens us and inspires us to play our part in creating a life-sustaining society.” – Gretchen Sleicher

We need music linked to environmental activism! Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher often expresses his own deep faith in the power of song to unite people and empower them to act without fear. Referring to environmental and climate justice advocates in America, Tim summed up his own perspective: “We will be a movement,” he frequently stated, “when we sing like a movement.”

And its beginning to happen! A Belgian initiative in 2012 launched a Sing for the Climate initiative with a rousing song “Do it Now!” In Belgium that year, more than 380.000 people sang ‘Do it now”! and the resulting video was was given to Belgian and European Union political leaders with great success. They now hope people will make their own music videos singing the song and upload it to share with world leaders at the upcoming UN Climate Conference in Paris. So far people from 23 countries and 430 cities have done so!

In the United States, People’s Climate Music is helping to expand the climate movement by organizing diverse and influential artists to create music and culture that inspires action to solve the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced – climate change. Organizations leading People’s Climate Music include Hip Hop Caucus, 350.org, Avaaz, NRDC, and Sierra Club. Check out their environmental album, “Home,” a compilation of rap and R&B songs whose title doubles as a stirring acronym: Heal Our Mother Earth.

For one of the most recent songs of this genre, see “Love Song to the Earth” – a benefit song with some of the world’s biggest names in music joining voices to inspire action on climate change. Every time the song is purchased, streamed, or shared, the royalties go directly towards the efforts of Friends of the Earth to keep fossil fuels in the ground and lower carbon emissions, and to the work of the U.N. Foundation to inspire international action on climate change.

In 1972, Pete Seeger went on a float trip down the Hells Canyon – the Snake River between Oregon and Idaho –  singing songs and yodeling. The float trip was part of a major effort pushing for greater protections for the Hells Canyon area around the Snake River.  Music in this slide show was recorded on the trip. The “Snake River Song” was recorded by Pete Seeger on his Banks of Marbel album which is used in this slide show.

But let’s not let just the professional musicians sing these songs. We need to sing our own songs for the Earth, climate justice, peace, and freedom. Let all of these Earth Songs inspire us to greater love and protection of the Earth.

In fact, we should also celebrate the entire Universe, not only Earth. See my The Universe Invoked in Pantheist Hymns (PDF) for examples and discussion.

While the list of songs available on this site using the navigation menu on the upper right of this page are my personal favorites, you can find over 5,000 Earth Songs on the Listen to the Earth website.  That site is a collaboration of MUSE, Earthday.FM Radio, and the Wild Wind Foundation, as an all volunteer effort promoting songs with an environmental message, and honoring musicians who inspire environmental awareness.

Do you know of other outstanding songs, albums, or links that are not listed here but should be? If so, please send information or a demo for review. Please contact me.

Are you a musician? If every musician writes a song to fight global climate change and promote oneness with the natural world, the world will listen.