The only decent thing that Tricky Dicky accomplished was creating the EPA to try to stem the runaway pollution that was starting to blanket those purple mountains majesties and amber plains. Really—it was prettyYuck disgustingDouble Yuck way back then. Earth was in troubleDo Something! . My god, when the Cuyahoga River was burning—you gotta know sh*t's f*&ked up! The first celebration of the earth took place on March 21, 1970 (Spring Equinox in Northern Hem). It was started by John McConnell at a 1969 UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. Later, Secretary General U Thant and McConnell made it official at the United Nations. Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed our own Earth Day, to be held on April 22Call to action! . Gaylord had been a champion of the environment for years, and was later awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom for his work. Rock artist Ron Cobb even came up with a logoButton edition . The first Earth Day celebrations were held in thousands of towns, schools, universities, everywhere, but notably New York, where Mayor Lindsey closed 5th AvenueQuite the crowd for a giant parade and opened up Central Park. Crowds were estimated at 100K here and 20 million across the country. Awareness was hightened and things finally started to change. In recent years, Earth Day has been assisted by social media to spread worldwide. Of course, us hippies had to go and stir that pot up, too. You're welcome. We sang about our love (and concerns) for the only place we have to liveApollo 17's "Blue Marble" photo . There is nothing else near us. This is itPale Blue Dot . One world-wide environmental organization that got its start in 1970 was Greenpeace. They got off to a start with a benefit concert in Vancouver, which featured Phil Ochs, James Taylor, and Joni Mitchell. What was it like ??  2024 Update: Walt Kelly of Pogo (& Poco) fame, recycled one of his catch phrases from down in de swamp for this swell poster.sad Pogo

After The Gold Rush	Neil Young	9/70
Apeman	The Kinks	12/70
Big Yellow Taxi	Joni Mitchell	4/70
Burn On [Cuyahoga River]	Randy Newman	5/72
Don't Go Near The Water	The Beach Boys	8/71
Earth And Water Song	Humble Pie	8/70
Earth Anthem	The Turtles	11/68
Earth Blues	Jimi Hendrix [& The Ronettes]	10/71
Earthfriend	The Mandrake Memorial	3/70
Earth Mother	Paul Kantner & Grace Slick	11/71
Ecological Blues	Blue Cheer	4/71
Ecology Song	Stephen Stills	6/71
Fresh Air	Quicksilver Messenger Service	8/70
The Garden Of Earthly Delights	The United States Of America	3/68
Garden Of Earthly Delights	Arzachel	?/70
Hungry Planet	The Byrds	9/70
Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)	Marvin Gaye	5/71
Mother Earth	Mother Earth	11/68
Mother Nature [45]	The Raves	3/67
Mother Nature—Father Earth	The Music Machine	2/69
Mother Nature Land	The Rascals	5/71
Mother Nature's Son	The Beatles	11/68
	Harry Nilsson	7/69
Natural Harmony	The Byrds	1/68
Nature Boy	The Great Society	9/68
Nature's Disappearing	John Mayall	10/70
Nature's Way	Spirit	12/70
Nine Types Of Industrial Pollution	The Mothers Of Invention	4/69
9-5 Pollution Blues [UK]	The World [Bonzo Dog Band]	9/70
Paradise	John Prine	10/71
Pollution	Bo Diddley	3/71
Puff Of Smoke	Roy Head	5/71
No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature	The Guess Who	1/70
Save The Land	Grand Funk Railroad	10/71
Save The Planet	Edgar Winter's White Trash	4/71
Seagull	Love Sculpture	2/70
What Have They Done To The Rain?	Malvina Reynolds	3/67
Where Do The Children Play?	Cat Stevens	11/70
Let's not forget these two masterpieces:
Poisoning Pigeons In The Park and Pollution	Tom Lehrer	'59/'65
Lest you think we quit after the 70s, here are just a few more "modern" songs:
New Riders Of The Purple Sage	Cement, Clay And Glass	1973
Thin Lizzy	Mama Nature Said	1973
Sparks	Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth	1974
Speedy Keen	The Profit On Ecology	1975
Duran Duran	Planet Earth	1981
Dead Kennedys	Cesspool in Eden	1986
Talking Heads	(Nothing But) Flowers	1988
Neil Young & Crazy Horse	Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)	1990
Joe Walsh	Song For A Dying Planet	1992
Michael Jackson	Earth Song	1995
Steve Forbert	Good Planets Are Hard to Find	1996
Dan Fogelberg	Earth Anthem	2003
Simon & Garfunkel	Citizen Of The Planet	2004
Neko Case	Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth	2009
Dar Williams	This Earth	2012
Sarah Slean	The Day We Saved The World (Youtube link)	2013

Note: Altho Whose Garden Was This? was written for the first Earth Day, it probably wasn't actually "official." It is to me.
 

Closer to home, our beautiful Hudson River was a cesspoolWanna glass of water? .

Thanks, primarily to local-boy-made-good, Pete Seeger, we can now enjoy crusin' down the river (and the fish are much happier). Pete formed The Clearwater organization, which fights a continuing battle to keep the Hudson clean(er). They even put on a giant music-filled festival every year to raise funds (plus, you can sail with them on their ships). Here some songs about The Mighty Hudson.

TV Guide Close-up =KVIE, Sacramento

Sounds Of Summer: "Pete Seeger And The Hudson River Sloop" 9/7/69, PBS Pete with a two-hour show on his Hudson River. May have been shown on different dates on other PBS stations.

Note: Here's an interesting CD—Annea Lockwood: A Sound Map Of The Hudson River .
It's sounds recorded along the Hudson, from the head to the ocean. 

Note: If you'd like to find out more about Pete, The Hudson, and The Clearwater, check these links:
Pete Seeger's Greatest Legacy? Saving New York's Hudson River
Clearwater.org
Keep up-to-date with the Riverkeeper
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater @ wiki

	Listen In Good Health: Songs Of Celebration And Decay
	Capitol SPRO-5003/4
	4/70 [UK: N/R]
	Back Cover

Side One
David Axelrod	Warnings	2:48
The Beatles	Here Comes The Sun	3:04
The Sons	Why Do People Run From The Rain?	3:28
Quicksilver Messenger Service	Shady Grove	2:58
Fred Neil	The Dolphins	3:51
Roy Harper	Davey	1:28
Side Two
The Steve Miller Band	Brave New World	3:27
John Stewart	Armstrong(non-LP 45)	2:38
The Band	Look Out Cleveland	3:07
B[uddy] Miles	We Gotta Live Together	5:51
Pink Floyd	Several Species Of Small Fury Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict	4:47

Links!

After helping his friend out with sound recording for a film, Irv Teibel was bored. He needed something to relax to, so he took his recording equipment to the beach and recorded the ocean as it played with the land and rocks. He listened to it, liked it, but felt it needed some help. He turned to his friend at Bell Labs and together they re-shaped the waves to their liking. The result was so calming to the soul that Irv found a new calling. He decided that we all could use some relaxing sounds and decided to market the ocean. He needed a B-side, so he travelled to the Bronx Zoo and recorded the birds in the avairy. Syntonic Research, Inc provided the tapes and Atlantic Records the distribution. environments 1 sold like hot cakes. Irv continued his project until 1979, releasing 11 records in total. environments 3 featured sounds of the Easter 1969 Be-In in Central Park. Included are David Peel chanting to legalize marijuana and towards the end, everybody chanting OM. See the Wiki link for a complete list or environments records.

	environments (Totally New Concepts In Sound - Disc 1)
	SR Records 1/10XEP
	8/69
	Back Cover   Sleeve

Side One
The Psychologically Ultimate Seashore	-	30:00
Side Two
Optimum Aviary	-	30:00

Note: Times shown are for playback at 33⅓ RPM. You could also play it at 45 RPM (22:30), or at 16⅔ for a full hour
 

Links!

Links!