Environmentalism has been a theme and cultural trend in popular music. Ecomusicologists (musicologists and ethnomusicologists focusing on music and environmental issues) and music educators are increasingly emphasizing the intersections of music and nature, and the role of music in ecological activism.

Environmental themes in music have ranged from an appreciation of nature and wilderness and advocating for its protection, to environmental degradation, pollution and climate change. The earliest popular music exploring environmentalist topics can be traced back to the 19th century and early folk, gospel and blues music. The counterculture of the 1960s facilitated an increase in environmental music that continued into subsequent decades. Genres that have addressed the topic include hip hop, punk rock, heavy metal and modern classical.

Some musical artists have used their platform to promote and raise money for environmental causes. Efforts have also been made to improve the sustainability of the music industry and live music.

History in popular music

Early examples Some of the earliest songs to cover environmental topics originate from the 19th century, with one example being "Woodman! Spare that Tree!" by George Pope Morris and Henry Russell. Folk music explored environmental topics throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

Icelandic music has had a long tradition of prominently featuring nature since the country's independence in 1944.

1960s-1970s

After a radioactive isotope (Strontium-90) was found in cows milk in 1959, the concern for the environmental effects of the nuclear arms race increased. This sparked songs about the invisibility of environmental effects like radioactive isotopes. In his song "Mack the Bomb", Pete Seeger wrote a comparison between a shark and Strontium-90, explaining that the threat of a shark is at least visible, unlike radioactive isotopes. In 1962, Malvina Reynolds also wrote a song called "What Have They Done to the Rain?", which was inspired by above-ground nuclear testing, and how it was putting Strontium-90 into the air, then into soil through rain, which is how it got into cows and their milk. Songwriter Peter La Farge released As Long as the Grass Shall Grow in 1963, a collection of native American songs discussing environmental destruction.

Pete Seeger released what is considered the first environmentalist album, entitled "God Bless the Grass" in 1966. The 1960s produced a large number of environmental-focused songs, primarily due to the popularization of folk music and the musicians that penned many environmental protest songs, in that genre.

In the 1960s and 1970s, popular music was influenced by the counterculture movement, anti-Vietnam war movement and the civil rights movement. The inaugural Earth Day and founding of Greenpeace, the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and passing of the National Environmental Policy Act were influential on music in the early 1970s. "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell referenced DDT following Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring, which had brought the dangers of DDT to popular attention. John Denver, a country and folk singer often sang about the wilderness of Colorado with popular songs such as "Rocky Mountain High" and "Take Me Home, Country Roads". The Beach Boys also explored environmental concerns, particularly pollution, in Surf's Up (1971) songs "Don't Go Near the Water" and "A Day in the Life of a Tree".

In 1970, environmentalist opposition to nuclear testing in Amchitka prompted a benefit concert in Vancounver organised by popular musicians James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Phil Ochs to raise money for a voyage of activist group Don't Make a Wave Committee on the Phyllis Cormack to oppose the test. This concert and subsequent voyage sparked the foundation of influential environmental group Greenpeace.

The primary view perpetuated by mainstream versions of environmental music from the 1960s onward have foregrounded the idyllic cohabitation of natural landscapes and humankind. The shorthand being the pastoral mode. However the pastoral mode has been used to perpetuate beliefs of a separate and untouched wilderness, as well as anti urbanism. These beliefs do not reflect critical environmental justice practices, which emphasize multidimensionality and intersectionality in issues relating to human health and environmental degradation. The pastoral mode also excluded experiences of minority groups that are an integral part of pastoral landscapes, as well as face the effects of food and heat deserts, increased pollution, unclean water, and more in urban areas.

1980s-1990s Popular musicians in the 1980s, including U2, R.E.M., Grateful Dead and George Harrison would continue to support Greenpeace by contributing tracks to compilation albums and appearing at benefit concerts, including notably Greenpeace – The Album. Prince, R.E.M. and Sting also successfully pressured record labels to phase out additional packaging for CDs to reduce their contribution to waste and pollution.

In the UK, the leading ethical music festival, Glastonbury Festival, has for decades supported environmental causes with its fundraising activities. The 1971 Glastonbury Fayre (the second Glastonbury event, the legendary free festival) espoused an environmentalist ethos in its very publicity: 'If the festival has a specific intention it is to create an increase in the power of the Universe, a heightening of consciousness and a recognition of our place in the function of this our tired and molested planet.'Quoted in McKay, George. 2000. Glastonbury: A Very English Fair. London Gollancz, p.174. As it established itself through the 1980s, Glastonbury worked with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which was a primary beneficiary of its funds. In 1992, it shifted its support to the international environmental campaign organisation Greenpeace, which has remained a key partner for over 30 years.See McKay 2000, ch. 5: 'The politics of peace and ecology at the festival.'

In 1995 singer Michael Jackson came out with the hit "Earth Song" which was about environmental and animal welfare. The production of the music video had an environmental theme, showing images of animal cruelty, deforestation, pollution, poverty, and war. Jackson and the world's people unite in a spiritual chant—"Earth Song"—which summons a force that heals the world. Using special effects, time is reversed so that life returns, war ends, and the forests regrow. The video closes with a request for donations to Jackson's Heal the World Foundation.George, p. 48–50 Michael Jackson HIStory on Film volume II VHS/DVD The clip was shown infrequently in the United States.

2000s In 2007, a massive concert entitled Live Earth was held in several locations around the world simultaneously to raise awareness and provoke action on climate change.

In 2009 Disney created a campaign called Disney's Friends for Change which helped to promote an environmental message. A song called Send it On recorded by Disney singers Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, the Jonas Brothers and Selena Gomez was produced, and the profits were donated to environmental charity organizations.

2010s-2020s

The Gorillaz album Plastic Beach (2010) focused on plastic pollution and Björk's Biophilia was inspired by her interest in nature and environmental concerns.

Climate change became a more prevalent topic in music during the 2010s, owing to changes in public opinion and the influence of the climate movement, youth strikes and Greta Thunberg. A number of figures and groups from the music industry in the United Kingdom formed Music Declares Emergency in 2019 and declared a climate emergency. Grimes released a climate-themed album Miss Anthropocene in 2020, and 2019 Lil Dicky charity single "Earth" featured numerous celebrities and attracted considerable social media attention.

Taiwan's has been described as pioneering exploring environmental topics in the music of their home country. Their 2016 album Village Besieged has been described as an elegy for victims of Taiwan's petrochemical pollution.

2020s–present Billie Eilish's first album featured the song "All Good Girls Go to Hell," which was meant to bring attention to humans inability to stop climate change. It came out in the aftermath of a series of forest fires which is what the song was mainly targeted at.

The 1975's track "The 1975" is entirely dedicated to climate change activist Greta Thunberg. This track contains lyrics such as "We are right now in the beginning of a climate and ecological crisis" and "now is not the time for speaking politely or focusing on what we can or cannot say. Now is the time to speak clearly." Some of these lyrics were taken directly from Thunberg's speeches or press releases.

By genre

Blues and gospel In the days of the African slave trade to the United States, the role of the environment was closely tied to spirituality and agricultural labor. Enslaved generations born in Africa passed down beliefs in divinity, superstition, and human connection to the natural world. "Africans believed in the interconnectedness of the human, spiritual, and environmental realms and felt that harm toward or care for one necessarily affected the others." These influences were expressed in the form of Spirituals or Gospel music and generally performed in either "praise houses" or in outdoor communion called "brush arbor meetings" or "bush meetings" This style of music was a way to authentically express the black experience in America, which in many ways meant reflecting on suffering. In reaction to this, references to heaven in gospel refer to it as a natural or pastoral landscape.

The Blues which came out of the south at the beginning of the 1900s spoke on the agrarian and impoverished lifestyles of the African American community. Firmly grounded in the realities of slavery and the systemic discrimination that followed, the Blues exemplified by artists like Roosevelt Charles was a reflection of rural labor and connection to the land. Later versions of the Blues shifted to faster tempos and themes of urban life as communities of colour migrated to cities like Chicago, Detroit, and New York. Some historians denote the dukes as an expression of reliance in the face of a continued struggle against white oppression. Thereby the Blues derived community amongst the minority in shared experience. Geographer Clyde Woods claims that citing artists like Robert Johnson that the Blues as well as Hip-Hop represent sustainability ethics by promoting the ‘co-operative rural and urban land forms’ through communities as sacred outside of their material value.

Modern classical music While composers have often used nature as their inspiration, modern classical from the period since World War II has seen an ever increasing amount of music in this regard. Composers such as John Cage and Olivier Messiaen began using patterns in nature as their materials in musical composition. One example of Cage's use of environmental sounds is the piece "Child of Tree". This work involves amplifying a cactus and pea pod shakers in addition to other instruments chosen by the performer. John Luther Adams writes music directly from his surroundings in Alaska.Gutierrez, . United States Artists, "USA Fellows Stories: John Luther Adams." Last modified 2006. Accessed November 23, 2012. http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/news/usa/usa_fellows_stories_john_luther_adams He is an environmentalist who has written and discussed the role that artists can play in combating global warming.Adams,. John Luther Adams, "Global Warming and Art." Last modified 2000. Accessed November 23, 2012. An example of his music is the piece The Place Where You Go to Listen. This work involves a sound and light installation that is "controlled by natural events occurring in real time."

Folk music