Environmentalists in Song

Invitation to visitors: If you are aware of any additional tributes to conservationists or environmentalists in song, , please let me know! Each song below is listed with their author and the album, if known, they are available on. Most of these songs are described in more detail with ordering information on the main Individual Earth Songs page. E-mail me: harold /at/ planetpatriot.net.

National Audubon Society

"Audubon Song" by Bill Oliver Audubon Adventures

David Brower

"Dave Brower, Knockin' Down Dams" by Bill Oliver on his album Friends of the River

Rachel Carson

"Rachel" by Magpie - from their album Seed on the Prairie - Song about Rachel Carson, whose scholarly scientific study and powerful and eloquent prose is the cornerstone of the modern environmental movement, and has inspired a generation of earth activists.
"Silent Spring" by Emma's Revolution on their album One, a song about Rachel Carson's warnings about the impact of toxics on the environment. Now available from the iTunes Music Store:
"Song for Rachel" by Walkin' Jim Stoltz, on his Little Piece of Time (2004) album
(also available on the M.U.S.E. Songs for the Earth: A Tribute to Rachel Carson CD, see below.)
Full Lyrics and chords [PDF] available from Walkin' Jim's website.
"And I’m singing this song for Rachel
And for the Elders of my tribe
And I’m singin’ it for the children
And this ol’ Earth on which we ride.
There will be no silent spring, and there will come a better day.
If we keep singin’ this song for Rachel,
and remember what she had to say."
- from "A Song for Rachel" by Walkin' Jim Stoltz
M.U.S.E., Songs for the Earth: A Tribute to Rachel Carson ©2005 M.U.S.E. Association, Inc.
This wonderful compilation of songs is the third release by Musicians United to Sustain the Environment (M.U.S.E.) done in partnership with the Rachel Carson Council to celebrate the life of Rachel Carson. Carson, through her landmark book, Silent Spring, inspired the modern day environmental movement by raising consciousness about the effects of pesticides and chemicals on the world around us.

The CD booklet has lots of information about Rachel Carson and her work. The profits from the sale of this and other M.U.S.E. recordings goes toward non-profit efforts to protect our environment.

These are the artists and the songs featured on "Songs for the Earth"

1. Pete Seeger - My Dirty Stream

2. Walkin' Jim Stoltz - Song for Rachel

3. Steve Schuch - Where Will We Go?

4. Kat Eggleston - Go to the Water

5. Bill Oliver - Queen Invicta

6. Tom Vincent - Ballad of the Osprey

7. Betty and the Baby Boomers - Back Bay

8. Casey Neill - Hallowed be thy Ground

9. Dean Stevens - Salmon River

10. Cindy Kallet - Roll to the River

11. Tom Paxton - When it's Gone, it's Gone

12. Magpie - Rachel

13. Tish Hinojosa - Something in the Rain

14. Gordon Bok - Herring Croon

15. Emma's Revolution - Silent Spring

16. Bob Zentz - Far Horizon

17. Josh White Jr. - Gentle Warrior

18. A speech by Rachel Carson herself

Jacques Cousteau

"Calypso" by John Denver from the album Windsong - about Jacques Costeau's ship. You can hear John Denver sound clips from CD Now.

Marjorie Stoneman Douglas

River of Grass - an online music video tribute to environmentalist Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, with wonderful photographs of the Everglades and inspiring messages about this majestic wilderness.

William O. Douglas

"Song for William O. Douglas" by Bill Oliver (Texas Oasis)

Julia "Butterfly" Hill

Songs about the young woman who lived two years in a ancient Redwood tree named Luna to prevent it from being cut for lumber.

"Butterfly Wings" (a tribute to Julia Hill) by Jim Page on his album Gettin' Squeezed
More songs exist, but are now hard to find since mp3.com went commercial. Look for these songs:
- Julia Butterfly by Steven King Trio
- Julia Butterfly by BEV
- Julia Butterfly Hill by Surdo

John Muir

See the John Muir Exhibit website for a comprehensive, annotated list of songs about John Muir including all of the following:
- "The Legend of John Muir" by Gayle Lynn Dreifus
- "The Ballad of John Muir" by Patrick Michael Karnahan of "Black Irish Band"
- "Tribute to John Muir" by Betsy Keithcart
- "Muir and the Master Builder" by Brian McNeill
- "Muir Power to You" by Bill Oliver on the John Muir Tribute CD.
- "John of the Mountains" by Matthew Werner of "Mariposa"
- "The Big Trees are Down" by Doug Wood - Earthsongs features tributes to Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold, with a call to us to stand in their footsteps.
- "Climb the Mountains" - Lyrics by Mary Bracken Phillips and music by Craig Bohmler (from Mountain Days: The John Muir Musical
- "Creation's Dawn" (Ode to John Muir) by Barry Hertz, on his album Sure Cure and on the John Muir Tribute CD.
- "Range of Light" by Walkin' Jim Stoltz on the John Muir Tribute CD.
- "Me and Stickeen" by Bill Oliver on his album Friend of the River
- "Hooray for Hetch Hetchy" by Bill Oliver (2005)

Mardy and Olaus Murie

"A Song for All Lovers" by John Denver, performed on his 1995 Wildlife Concert DVD/VHS video and the video, Arctic Dance: The Mardy Murie Story.

Ranger Rick

"Ranger Rick" (the conservationist raccoon) by Doug Wood Earthsongs

Hazel Wolf

"Hazel Wolf - Kid for the Environment" by Bill Oliver - tribute to the 101 year old Audubon activist from Seattle

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This page is maintained by Harold Wood.
E-mail: harold (at) planetpatriot.net

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