I, too, need to wake up
By Larry J. SchweigerLike penetrating oil on an old rusty bolt, music transports words with meaning deep into that place we often call our heart. This heart should not be confused with the place where blood is pumped. No, this heart is that place where profound spiritual decisions are formed and where that rare element called courage can be found. Because it has spiritual power, music can shape the behavior of even the most case-hardened soldier. For centuries, generals have used music to arouse their fighting troops. They understood that music can reach where mere orders don't work. With fife and drum, uniformed men have marched into the very face of death with 10,000 muzzles blasting at them.

I am deeply moved by the fiddle and flute music of the Civil War era, because it reminds me that there are still things that are worth dying for, like freedom and equal justice for all. Music inspired an earlier generation of environmentalists on thousands of American campuses in the 1970s to march off to battle to fight polluters. I remember well listening in those days to the timely song “Big Yellow Taxi” from the album Ladies of the Canyon by Joni Mitchell, who sang, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” It was released within weeks of the first Earth Day in 1970. I was studying forestry when Joni sang, “They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum.” I remember taking a group of about 100 fellow students to see one of the last nesting pairs of bald eagles in the Conneaut Swamp of Pennsylvania when Joni was writing her lyrics, “Hey, farmer, farmer, put away that D. D. T., now! Give me spots on my apples. But leave me the birds and the bees. Please!”
Those were fighting words for students like me who loved nature and saw what was happening to our natural world. Music inspires me to love, to think afresh and even to have courage today as I confront the toughest social and spiritual issue of our day: global warming. I have shared with you before that I believe we are penning a fourth chapter in the long crusade for conservation. It will be titled “World Stewardship” and Melissa Etheridge has written what I consider to be the theme song for this new chapter. With the same honesty and intensity that she brings to life, Etheridge has released her new music video “I Need to Wake Up.” As soon as I heard it, I knew it would inspire a new generation of college students who are deeply troubled by the prospect of living with the consequences of global warming. I have always admired Etheridge for her rich, throaty voice, unique style of music and, most of all, her courage to stand up in the midst of a personal fight with cancer. I am certain she has been a great source of inspiration for many women with the same disease. Etheridge wrote her powerful song for the movie An Inconvenient Truth. In doing so, she has taken a bold stand on global warming and challenged us all to open our eyes and see the truth about our future. (To see her video, go to: www.mtv.com/overdrive/?vid=101912#/overdrive/?vid=101912. (Don't be turned off by the couple of ads that precede the music.) Great music like “I Need to Wake Up” can have a strong influence over our sometimes hard-to-reach emotions where we often make the most important decisions. I predict this video and Melissa's stirring music will inspire millions of people from every political perspective to wake up and see that our future is at stake. I downloaded the music to my iPod and I will listen to it when I need to renew my courage. I think I will need to listen often.