Title Text

Pete Seeger

Bringing Politics and Reform to Music

A contributor to positive land/water usage and global change in pollution

Pete Seeger

1919-2014

Pete Seeger, who fought pollution and advocated an environmentally safe use of resources through music, was a folk artist who is attributed with saving the Hudson river. He founded the "Clearwater", which is a ship that conducts environmental education on the Hudson River. The vessel promotes intelligent use of resources, pollution prevention, and uses science-based learning to keep our environment clean.

Impact:

Pete Seeger and the Hudson River

The Clearwater

In 1969, after realizing the decline of the Hudson river due to pollution by large corporations, Seeger launched the Cleanwater. The vessel, which still sails today, hosts many different educational programs that teach the importance of protecting our environment in various ways.

Environmental Politics through Music

• Seeger used his musical fame as a medium to promote his environmental beliefs
• Through his music, he began a bandwagon of environmentalists that fought against the use of the Hudson River as a pollutant dump
• Used lyrics to protest the Indian Point Nuclear Reactor; also protested fracking nationwide

Land and Water Use: Pete Seegers Lyrics

This Land was Made for You and Me (A song that fought pollution/selfish resource use)

"When the sun came shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me"

To My Old Brown Earth (Advocated the conservative use of resources to uphold our responsibility to earth)

"And this our home,
Keep pure and sweet and green,
For now I'm yours
And you are also mine."

Pollution: Seeger's Lyrics

Pollution in the Hudson River

Seeger opposed the Indian Point Nuclear Plant, which posed a great threat to the NY environment

My Dirty Stream (A song that Seeger used to start a movement for a cleaner Hudson River. It also protested the Indian Point Nuclear Plant on the River)

"Out in the ocean they say the water's clear
But I live right at Beacon here
Half way between the mountains and sea
Tacking to and fro, this thought returns to me

Well it's Sailing up my dirty stream
Still I love it and I'll dream
That some day, though maybe not this year
My Hudson and my country will run clear."

Sources

• Goldenberg, Suzanne. “Pete Seeger's Greatest Legacy? Saving New York's Hudson River.”The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 29 Jan. 2014, www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jan/29/pete-seeger-hudson-river-new-york.

• McGrath, Timothy. “14 Songs by Pete Seeger That Are More Relevant than Ever, Sadly.”Public Radio International, PRI, 28 Jan. 2014, www.pri.org/stories/2014-01-28/14-songs-pete-seeger-are-more-relevant-ever-sadly.

• “The Clearwater Story -.” Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, www.clearwater.org/about/the-clearwater-story/.

• “The Sloop -.” Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, www.clearwater.org/the-sloop/.