25 Years On–The Enduring Relevance of Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song”, The Joy of Michael Jackson’s Poem “Earth,” Two Great Climate Change Combating Communities–the Carbon Underground & the Years Project

THE POWER OF MICHAEL JACKSON’S “EARTH SONG,”  25 YEARS LATER

“Earth Song” is a song by American singer Michael Jackson from his ninth studio album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. It was released on November 27, 1995, by Epic Records as the third single from the album. It is a ballad that incorporates elements of blues, gospel and opera. Though Jackson had a long history of releasing socially conscious songs such as “We Are the World“, “Man in the Mirror” and “Heal the World“, “Earth Song” was his first to overtly discuss the environment and animal welfare. “Earth Song” was made for the Dangerous album but it failed to make the final cut.

Jackson said: “I remember writing Earth Song when I was in Austria, in a hotel.” He went on to reveal how horrible he was feeling at the time. I was feeling so much pain and so much suffering of the plight of the planet Earth. And for me, this is Earth’s Song, because I think nature is trying so hard to compensate for man’s mismanagement of the Earth.”

Jackson added that the song also includes some joy as well, praising the planet.

The Thriller star continued: “With the ecological unbalance going on, and a lot of the problems in the environment, I think earth feels the pain, and she has wounds, and it’s about some of the joys of the planet as well. Jackson’s Earth Song has been viewed more than half a billion times on youtube.

Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song” is beautifully composed to take a long discussed topic about the environment and human nature, and like a lot of his work, was well ahead of its time. Earth Song– a timeless classic and well worth both the listen and the look.

DEEPER DIVE: EARTH Song, Wikipedia

MICHAEL JACKSON’S “PLANET EARTH” POEM

I see your Michael Jackson climate change concern song, and I raise you a Michael Jackson climate change concern poem.  Apparently, in 2009, he penned an ode to big blue, our planet Earth:

While Jackson claims his song, “Earth” is more than a screed against the violations humans have committed against the home planet and that it offers praise–his poem Planet Earth is absolutely a wonderful homage to the third rock from the Sun.

Planet Earth was first heard on Michael Jackson’s This is It album, posthumously released in October 2009 after the singer’s death June 25th that same year, but it was first released in the liner notes for his 1991 Dangerous album, and again as one of 46 poems and essays Jackson published in his book, Dancing the Dream.

Not gonna lie to you. When it first came out, culture critics gave Planet Earth mixed reviews. Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail called it “unsophisticated but poignant.” Dan Aquilante of The New York Post described it as “hokey at times, but there is a childlike quality that emerges after a few listens.” The less diplomatic Toronto Star called it “vapid.” And Time Magazine simply said of it, “consider yourself warned.”

Look. Michael Jackson means different things to different people, both good and bad. But I think we can all agree that his love of the planet was real and profound. And the poem does stand the test of time, if not for its depth, for its topicality. To hear it in its entirety, Surf on over to theclimate.org/episodes and click on the link to the pageantry of sight and sound that is “Planet Earth” a poem by the late Michael Jackson.

DEEPER DIVE: Youtube, Wikipedia, HuffPost, MJWorld

THE CARBON UNDERGROUND

Psst. Hey. Come here.

Wanna help fight climate change?

Sure.

Well let me hip you to the Carbon Underground. According to the Carbon Underground website, The Carbon Underground was created in 2013 with two core goals—coalesce the emerging science on soil’s relationship to climate change and tell the world about a possibility to not simply slow down this threat, but reverse it. The Carbon Underground is all about helping solve climate change by storing carbon underground, and in the ground..

In eight years, the Carbon Underground has flowered into an international outcomes-based organization focusing on creating the tools, alliances, and opportunities to achieve scale at efforts proven to draw down carbon and mitigate the climate crisis.

The organization’s Theory of Change is based on the following core beliefs:

1.   There is no solution to climate change that does not include drawing down legacy carbon from the atmosphere.
2.   There is no mechanism with the scale, ability, and immediacy to draw adequate amounts of carbon back down to mitigate climate change other than the restoration of soil and shift to regenerative agriculture.

 Nature is a system of continual renewal in the form of cycles. Whereas the Water Cycle uses processes like evaporation, transpiration, runoff and precipitation to move water above, around and below the surface. The Carbon Cycle moves carbon from living things to the atmosphere, and from there back to living things on earth or in the soil. Human-induced carbon extraction and over application has disrupted that cycle. Regenerative agriculture restores the Carbon Cycle.

And that’s why regenerative agriculture and carbon underground matter to us.

Some of the Carbon Underground’s most recent successes include a collaboration with the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), a coalition of more than 300,000 companies in the US, to launch of the new Adopt-A-Meter Women in Farming program. 

DEEPER DIVE: The Carbon Underground, Adopt-A-Meter Program, ASBC

CLIMATE CHANGE COMBATING ALLY–THE YEARS PROJECT

We’re often asked “What can I do to fight climate change?”

Well, there are a LOT of things you can do. Some are big and will require a lot of you and some are small, but ALL of them make a difference. We encourage you to try any and all of solutions we’ve reported on here at The Climate Daily. One such set of solutions might be found at TheYearsProject.com.

The mission of The Years Project is to compel measurable and effective action on climate change through trusted storytelling across all media.  

The Years Project evolved from the two-year, 17-episode series The Years of Living Dangerously. All of it, and more is now available online at TheYearsProject.com. In addition, The YEARS Project is a multimedia storytelling and education effort designed to inform, empower, and unite the world in the face of climate change.

The website provides ample resources on the Learn section. The National Wildlife Federation has posted information for educators. A great piece exists on Pennsylvania’s bug battle and its implications for the rest of America. All sorts of great stuff. 

Why does The Years Project matter to us?  At a time when disinformation can be spread more rapidly than ever before, The YEARS Project is committed to the truth about climate change and the science behind the climate crisis. Its reporting is based on trustworthy sources, including interviews with the top experts in their fields, the latest peer-reviewed research and first-hand accounts from people on the frontlines of climate change.

DEEPER DIVE: The Years Project, IMDB