Ads #12: Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute

In the 70s, kids had it beaten into their heads night and day that dropping a soda can on the sidewalk = the total and complete destruction of the planet earth. It was a good message I guess, but if you were a kid in the 1970s, you know what I mean - the anti pollution message got to be a bit overbearing. If you dropped so much as a Dentyne wrapper in the grass, you would not only make a Native American cry, but Smokey the Bear would come find you.

via Boin Boing

This Woodsy Owl comic is from Boing Boing. Again, it's a great message, but Woodsy is such an ass about it, it almost makes me want to pollute.

I do remember it being pretty polluted in the 70s. Look no further than the intro to Welcome Back, Kotter to observe the urban decay in its fullness. Jimmy Buffet's complaint bout stepping on a pop top in Margaritaville was a valid point - I remember pop tops and cigarette butts lying around everywhere!

And I have to admit, watching that famous Iron Eyes Cody anti-pollution ad today still affects me. I'm not sure what it is about this PSA, but it makes me want to go down to the municipal park and start picking up empty malt liquor bottles, crack pipes and used condoms.



Perhaps no song drilled the environmental message more forcefully than the guy who sang "Convoy", C.W. McCall. This trucker makes Smokey and Woodsy look like a couple of creampuffs in "There Won't Be No Country Music".


There Won`t Be No Country Music

Well, it's only gonna be about an hour, friend
'Til they dam your favorite river
So you can water-ski just one more reservior
And them supersonic ships are gonna take you
'Cross a sea of pavement
To one more faceless brickyard on the shore

Yeah, it's only gonna be about an hour or so
'Til they rip off all your mountains, boy
And that one last tired old eagle bites the sand
And all of that high-and-mighty scenery's
Gonna be leveled to the ground, boy
By a bunch a' them mindless strip mines on the land

[Chorus]
So listen well, my brothers
When you hear the night wind sigh
And you see the wild goose flying
Through the gray, polluted sky
There won't be no country music
There won't be no rock 'n' roll
'Cause when they take away our country
They'll take away our soul

Well, it's only gonna take about a minute or so
'Til the junkyards fell the prairies, boy
And them smokin' yellow grass fires start to burn
And the warnings on them beer cans
Gonna be buried in them landfills
No deposit, no sad songs, and no returns

Yeah, it's only gonna take about a minute or so
'Til the factories blot the sun out
You gonna have to turn your lights on just to see
And them lights are gonna be neon, sayin'
"Fly Our Jets To Paradise"
And the whole damn world is gonna be made of styrene

[Chorus]
So listen well, my brothers
When you hear the night wind sigh
And you see the wild goose flying
Through the gray, polluted sky
There won't be no country music
There won't be no rock 'n' roll
'Cause when they take away our country
They'll take away our soul

Yeah, it's only gonna be about a second, boy
'Til they take away all'a this country
And they'll tell you not to listen to this here song
And that far-off sound of freedom's
Gonna be an echo from the past
And the final tune is gonna be sad and long

And it's only gonna be about an eye-blink, boy
'Til they pull out the wool to blind us
So we just can't read all the messages on the wall
But the only words that matter
Oughta be scribbled all over them billboards
In big old black and bloody letters, ten feet tall

[Chorus]