Billy Joel has written two of the most moving environmental songs ever, but they are not easily recognized as such. That’s because we are used to Environmentalism focusing on the non-human elements, such as the decline of other species and changes to the landscape, but environmentalism is ultimately about maintaining our human quality of life.
Billy Joel’s 1982 song Allentown, takes the first person perspective of a man living in Allentown, PA, where coal mining has peaked, and, as the industry declines, so does the quality of life:
So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all
No they never taught us what was real
Iron and coke
And chromium steel
And were waiting here in Allentown
But they’ve taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled away
His 1989 song The Downeaster ‘Alexa’ echoes Allentown, addressing the human element in collapsing fish stocks, taking the first-person perspective of a fisherman from the Outer Lands, who’s worked all his life to own his own fishing boat, traveling further and further out to sea, on ever longer trips in order to bring home a catch to support his family:
We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday
And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner’s Bay
Like all the locals here I’ve had to sell my home
Too proud to leave I worked my fingers to the boneSo I could own my Downeaster Alexa
And I go where the ocean is deep
There are giants out there in the canyons
And a good captain can’t fall asleepI’ve got bills to pay and children who need clothes
I know there’s fish out there but where God only knows
They say these waters aren’t what they used to be
But I’ve got people back on land who count on me
Human stories like these are important to consider when special interests insist that environmentalism is bad for business, jobs, and our quality of life.