Skip to main content
Indiana University Press
Fulcrum Beta logo beta
  1. Home
  2. A Song to Save the Salish Sea: Musical Performance as Environmental Activism

A Song to Save the Salish Sea: Musical Performance as Environmental Activism

Mark Pedelty 2016
On the coast of Washington and British Columbia sit the misty forests and towering mountains of Cascadia. With archipelagos surrounding its shores and tidal surges of the Salish Sea trundling through the interior, this bioregion has long attracted loggers, fishing fleets, and land developers, each generation seeking successively harder to reach resources as old-growth stands, salmon stocks, and other natural endowments are depleted. Alongside encroaching developers and industrialists is the presence of a rich environmental movement that has historically built community through musical activism. From the Wobblies’ Little Red Songbook (1909) to Woody Guthrie’s Columbia River Songs (1941) on through to the Raging Grannies’ formation in 1987, Cascadia's ecology has inspired legions of songwriters and musicians to advocate for preservation through music.

In this book, Mark Pedelty explores Cascadia's vibrant eco-musical community in order to understand how environmentalist music imagines, and perhaps even creates, a more sustainable conception of place. Highlighting the music and environmental work of such various groups as Dana Lyons, the Raging Grannies, Idle No More, Towers and Trees, and Irthlingz, among others, Pedelty examines the divergent strategies—musical, organizational, and technological—used by each musical group to reach different audiences and to mobilize action. He concludes with a discussion of “applied ecomusicology,” considering ways this book might be of use to activists and musicians at the community level.

Buy Book
ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-253-02316-2 (e-book)
  • 978-0-253-02300-1 (paper)
  • 978-0-253-02268-4 (hardcover)
Subject
  • Place
  • Nature
  • Music
Citable Link
  • Resources
  • Stats

Resources

Search and Filter Resources

Filter search results by

Section

  • Chapter 120
Filter search results by

Keyword

  • coal train4
  • comedy4
  • oil train4
  • Hawaii3
  • love song3
  • more Keywords »
Filter search results by

Creator

  • Lyons, Dana20
Filter search results by

Format

  • audio12
    Filter search results by

    Audio Content

    • song12
  • video8
    Filter search results by

    Video Content

    • music video6
    • animation1
    • claymation1
Filter search results by

Year

  • 201413
  • 19982
  • 20122
  • 20132
  • 20161
Filter search results by

Exclusivity

  • Exclusive to Fulcrum20

Search Constraints

Filtering by: Language sim English Remove constraint Language sim: English
Start Over
1 - 20 of 20
  • First Appearance
  • Section (Earliest First)
  • Section (Last First)
  • Format (A-Z)
  • Format (Z-A)
  • Year (Oldest First)
  • Year (Newest First)
Number of results to display per page
  • 10 per page
  • 20 per page
  • 50 per page
  • 100 per page
View results as:
List Gallery

Search Results

An animation of Dana Lyons' song "Cows With Guns", a comedy song about the bovine revolution.

Cows With Guns - animation

From Chapter 1

animation video

A claymation of Dana Lyons' song "Cows With Guns", a comedy song about the bovine revolution.

Cows With Guns - claymation

From Chapter 1

claymation video

A music video of Dana Lyons' song "Sometimes" which raises awareness about the dangers of coal or oil export trains throughout communities.

Sometimes (Coal Train Song) - music video

From Chapter 1

music video

A music video of Dana Lyons' song "It’s a Matter of Asking", about the struggle to stop cruise ships from coming to the Hawaiian island of Molakai

It’s a Matter of Asking - music video

From Chapter 1

music video

A music video about Dana Lyons' comedy song "Label GMO Disco" which raises awareness about the need to label genetically modified foods.

Label GMO Disco - music video

From Chapter 1

music video

A music video of Dana Lyons' comedy song "Cane Toad Muster" about the invasion of the exotic cane toads in Australia.

Cane Toad Muster - music video

From Chapter 1

music video

A music video of Dana Lyons' song "Salmon Come Home" about the potential effects of proposed Chuitna River mine and Pebble Mine in Alaska.

Salmon Come Home - music video

From Chapter 1

music video


Trade Winds

From Chapter 1

Song from Dana Lyons' The Great Salish Sea CD


Salmon Come Home

From Chapter 1

Song from Dana Lyons' The Great Salish Sea CD


Everybody's Got a Shovel

From Chapter 1

Song from Dana Lyons' The Great Salish Sea CD


I Need the Water

From Chapter 1

Song from Dana Lyons' The Great Salish Sea CD


The Great Salish Sea

From Chapter 1

Song from Dana Lyons' The Great Salish Sea CD


Sometimes

From Chapter 1

Song from Dana Lyons' The Great Salish Sea CD


The Fingers of Jesus

From Chapter 1

Song from Dana Lyons' The Great Salish Sea CD


It's a Matter of Asking

From Chapter 1

Song from Dana Lyons' The Great Salish Sea CD


Just Want to be with You

From Chapter 1

Song from Dana Lyons' The Great Salish Sea CD


Singing Home

From Chapter 1

Song from Dana Lyons' The Great Salish Sea CD


Good Morning Eliza

From Chapter 1

Song from Dana Lyons' The Great Salish Sea CD


Cane Toad Muster

From Chapter 1

Song from Dana Lyons' The Great Salish Sea CD

A music video of Dana Lyons' song "The Great Salish Sea" about the changing sound of boat noise on orcas over the last century.

The Great Salish Sea - music video

From Chapter 1

music video

Stats

1,279 views since March 30, 2017
Indiana University Press logo

Indiana University Press

Powered by Fulcrum Beta logo beta

  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Accessibility
  • Preservation
  • Terms of Service
  • Log In

© Indiana University Press 2019

x This site requires cookies to function correctly.