Folk Music and Environmental Responsibility 

Written By: Rebecca Gonzalez

Graphic By: Ariadne Danae Chavez Salinas

Since the beginning of time, kinship between humans and nature has always been prevalent.  

In regard to the integral role humans play in nature, we hold a collective basic understanding in how our choices concerning our movement throughout the environment can have potential detrimental results for every single organism on earth. Nature’s role in our psychological development tends to be commonly forgotten among ourselves. Without consciousness of our interconnectedness with nature, every aspect can become something of a nuisance. Though, it all makes up something essential to our growth.

True interconnectedness, I believe, starts with love and appreciation. Fully and completely involving yourself in something bigger than yourself is a great act of care. An act of care which in turn, becomes responsible for our own psychological development. We look at the term biophilia and understand there is science behind this phenomenon; the innate desire for a human to connect with other life-forms such as plants and animals. It is not baseless. 

Biophilia, coined by German-born American psychoanalyst Eric Fromm, asserts that one’s maturation resides with inclusive sensitivity for our environment. American biologist Edward O. Wilson later picked up this term to connect it to a human’s genetic basis, proposing a human’s tendency and need for affiliation with nature to be innate. When it comes to environmental movements all throughout the globe, where does this spur of responsibility occur, what else influences our desire regardless of our genetic makeup?

Environmental history 

Global issues, through time, have formed a community. A strong group is one that is effectively mobilized, fighting for the same cause. Global social identity is formed, helping individuals generalize in-group behavior across national boundaries. This serves as a vital, powerful tool for combating international social dilemmas such as climate change that require individuals and nations alike to commit to change. The 18th century witnessed the dawn of modern environmental rights. The humanistic attitudes of the Renaissance, brought about the elevation of nature. Benjamin Franklin petitioned to manage waste and to remove tanneries for clean air as a public “right”. This calling for environmental change appears in music as well.

Folk music

This very kinship has been a typical theme among many pieces of media throughout time. Dating Folk music’s origins back to the 19th century, there are also heavy motifs surrounding nature. This comes as no surprise as many Folk songs involve oral tradition which have been traced to literary sources. The pushing of the message for a better collective environmental conscience in these songs likely came due to our own historical attitude over the natural world, and the dominating acts we’ve taken towards nature, rather than holding place for an ecological balance. During the late 15th and 16th centuries, the literate urban classes responded more favorably to folk music than their predecessors had in the medieval period. Despite Folk music’s long history, it wasn’t until the 1960’s peak of the Folk revival era where themes of environmental consciousness were portrayed.

However, we are still left with one answered question: how does Folk music correlate with these protests? Folk music is considered a working class genre, dating back to the 1930s following America’s Labor Union Movement and continuing during the 1960’s. When a genre of music is widely understood as being political in nature, the music is seen as responsible for opening a new door to the American consciousness, providing a voice for a generation longing for equality.  Despite Folk Music’s shared history with environmental protest and resistance, it wasn’t until 1965 with Known as Folk’s first album to speak highly of nature, Pete Seeger’s ‘God Bless The Grass’ which was known as Folk’s first album to speak highly of nature and focus on human-led action and consequence surrounding the environment. A real captivating essence is drawn from this album through its sound that utilizes bluegrass instrumentation. However, it is Seeger’s ability to capture the idea of lovingly extending deep care for nature. It’s political, profound, and absolutely enlightening. 

Shortly after the release of this album, Seeger set action to clean up the heavily polluted Hudson River and started a non-profit organization, along with his wife, to meet this goal through advocacy and education programs. 

This reading of Folk music shows proof in media’s ability to incite behavioral and political change that avoids further ecological distress.