Environmentalism has long been troubled by bad reputations. Mislabeled with a number of inexact or plainly inaccurate labels (tree hugger, granola, hippie, etc.), members of the movement are generalized and dismissed as extremist ideologues. Granted, a part of this negative stereotyping comes from proclaiming yourself an "environmentalist" instead of someone who simply values the environment, but that does not account for much of the crappy public image. The biggest obstacle is that environmentalism can't penetrate the mainstream. It is the activism that stands most decidely in the way of "progress". It doesn't just call for stopping a particular behavior, but insists on actually reversing it.

To the extent that environmentalism is exposed in mainstream media, those responsible for the exposure usually do a poor job. Musicians are especially guilty of this. They write heavy-handed lyrics, or fail to practice what they preach, or - most frustratingly - make little effort to access the most important audience: those who disagree with them.

Below, I take a look at some songs and the Youtube comments that accompany them, to give a perspective on the response these songs create:

1) "Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)" by Marvin Gaye

I include this song as an example of environmental music done right. The lyrics are simple, reflective, and - even though they take a clear position on the subject - refreshingly unpreachy.

However, half of a song's significance is its legacy, and while it is doubtlessly admired as a classic, the Youtube conversation that exists is overwhelmingly not about the environment.

One user writes "Back in them days, things was a little ruff', but we had more unity as a people.

The insight may be valuable, but it is not particularly relevant. More importantly, it provides a very damaging, common kind of rhetoric for the public image of any cause.

It is valuable to recognize when our culture has regressed, but another thing entirely for a person of one generation to pontificate about how much better theirs was.

This same kind of talk can be seen in another comment which does express the song's subject more specifically:

"If it weren't for all the ecology tree-hugging hippies in the 60's, we'd be living in a toxic, smog-filled craphole like India and China are today."

It is tongue-in-cheek (clearly the author stands with those "hippies") and is toxically self-congratulating.

2) "Earth Song" - Michael Jackson

I have no real qualms with the song as music. Maybe it uses too much synth at times, but for the most part, "Earth Song" is compositionally impressive. However, the lyrics and video really undo MJ's work. The imagery of the video is heavy-handed, fading from a lush rainforest to the sight of a bulldozing beginning to mow it down, and then Jackson in a treeless wasteland. If you don't think that sounds slap-you-in-the-face-with-this-message enough, Jacko spends the second half of the video prostrating himself on the ground and raking up fistfuls of dirt while he shouts.