Michael Jackson Environmental Activist Green Products Celebrity WOMAN.ca

It Might Not Matter if You're Black or White, But It's Important to Be Green

Yes, the world is slowly deteriorating. Yes, we are undergoing rapid climate change that could entirely offset, if not exterminate, all biological civilization. Yes, increasing global temperatures are causing sea levels to rise and are changing the patterns and amounts of annual precipitation, including an unsurpassed expansion of subtropical deserts, which is, yes, very bad.

'Yes' to all of these things, but no, contrary to what some may think, Al Gore did not discover global warming. He also didn't invent the internet, but we must pick our battles.

In fact, before Al Gore cashed in at the box-office with 'An Inconvenient Truth' in 2006, another culturally peculiar fellow, who many of us loved, some of us questioned, and everyone's danced to, was already pioneering the green crusade. Michael Jackson, MJ, Wacko Jacko. Call him what you like, but long before reusable shopping bags were the "it" accessory, the man in the sparkly glove reached out to fans with the same message.

Earth Song, the third single released on Jackson's HIStory album in 1995, has long been celebrated as one of his most touching, and influential tunes. Although the numbers weren't yet in, and North America had not yet fallen into a bottomless "blue box" of mass eco-hysteria, the world was already in full downward spin.

In an interview in 2001, still a few years before environmental panic gained any real momentum, Jackson was quoted saying this about the song:

"I remember writing Earth Song when I was in Austria...and I was feeling so much pain and so much suffering over the plight of planet Earth... I think nature is trying so hard to compensate for man's mismanagement of the Earth... This is my chance to pretty much let people hear the voice of the planet. And this voice is Earth Song."

In 2008, a writer for the Nigeria Exchange stated that it was Earth Song that "drew the world's attention to the degradation and bastardization of the earth as a fall out of various human activities." Earth Song, although surprisingly not as well played in North America, remains Jackson's best selling single in the UK, where it sold more than one million copies. It debuted at number one, and stayed there for six weeks throughout December 1995.

If you've not heard the song, or seen the video, (then you must be living under a rock, or have little to no taste in music...sorry) please click here.

Jackson may have been a lot of things. He was black. He was white. (Of course, it didn't matter...) He dangled his baby over a balcony, and best-befriended that kid from Home Alone, while he was still that kid from Home Alone. But aside from being the (revered or refused) King of Pop, he was a humanitarian, an environmentalist, and an activist until his dying day.

And I'd like to see Al Gore try to moonwalk.

By Carli Mia

Carli Mia
		About the author:
		Carli Mia, also known as Carli Rothman, also known as Carli Stephens, also known as Carli Mia Stephens Rothman, is a prairie-girl to the core, and a graduate of the Ryerson School of Journalism. She currently lives in downtown Toronto, and acts as the Director of Content for WOMAN.ca!
	Read More >>