Environmental Songs for a United Sense of Place

A sense of place and appreciation for where one lives inspires many environmental songs. Many singer/songwriters also bear witness to the changes and environmental harms to the places they care about.

This curated green song list includes just a few of the 750 songs in our earth song database database that reflect a sense of place and a plea for more simple living. More specifically, these environmental songs of unity, reflect a shared sense of place and the diversity of our 50 United States.

This list is by no means complete. We welcome your song ideas and contributions.

Alabama Environmental Songs

  • Ned Mudd and the Blacklight Sombreros, “Alabama” and “Developers Go Build in Hell”
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Things Goin’ On”; “Simple Man”; “I’m a Country Boy”

Alaska Environmental Songs

  • Jack Gladstone, “Alaska Long Live On”
  • Susan Grace, “Sweet Alaska”
  • Waterbound, “Alaska’s Worth More”
  • Susan Aglukark, “Song of the Land” (Inuit)
  • Waterbound, “Alaska’s Worth More”
  • The Euphoniously Feminist & Non-Perfoming Quintet, “Calyoquot Sound)
  • Si Kahn, “Mount Polley Mine Disaster,” and “Pebble Mine”

Arizona Environmental Songs

  • Bill Oliver & Glen Waldeck, “Grand Canyon Rendezvous”
  • Walkin’ Jim Stoltz, “The Brand New Grand Canyon Suite”
  • Katie Lee, “They Crucified My River”
  • Randy Travis, “Blue Mesa”

Arkansas Environmental Songs

  • Kate Campbell, “When Panthers Roamed in Arkansas”

California Environmental Songs

  • Lillian Allen, “I Dream a Redwood”
  • Banana Slug String Band, “California Sea Otter”
  • Joanne Rand, “California’s Burning”
  • Suzanne McDermott, “In the California Sun”
  • Malvina Reynolds, “It Isn’t Nice”
  • Rita Hosking, “California”
  • Timothy Hull, “Sacromento River Tune”
  • Malvina Reynolds, “The Day the Highway Froze”
  • Malvina Reynolds, “Little Boxes”
  • Rita Hosking, “California”
  • Carol Denney, “PG&E Song”
  • Black Irish Band, “Grizzly of Old California”

Colorado Environmental Songs

  • Sons of the San Joaquin, “In My Colorado Home”
  • Earth Guardians, “What the Frack”
  • John Denver, “Rocky Mountain High”
  • Samples, “Nature”

Connecticut Environmental Songs

Delaware Environmental Songs

  • Mike Breen, “Waters of Delaware”

Florida Environmental Songs

  • Dale and Linda Crider, “Wild Panther, the Big Guy”
  • Dale Crider, “Foreverglades”
  • Rod MacDonald, “The Aucilla River song”
  • Rod MacDonald, “Out in the Country”
  • Okefenokee Joe, “Everglades Symphony”

Georgia Environmental Songs

  • Joanne Rand, “Georgia”
  • Joanne and Rebecca Steele, “Song for the Land”
  • Robert Hoyt, “Red Mud”

Hawaii Environmental Songs

  • Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, “Somewhere over the Rainbow”

Idaho Environmental Songs

  • Ranger Doug, “Idaho Moon”
  • Bob Wells, “Along the Salmon River”
  • Walkin’ Jim Stoltz, “I’m Going Back to Idaho”

Illinois Environmental Songs

Indiana Environmental Songs

Iowa Environmental Songs

Kansas Environmental Songs

  • Magpie, “Seed on the Prairie”

Kentucky Environmental Songs

  • John Prine, “Paradise”

Louisiana Environmental Songs

  • Robert Hoyt, “Atchafalaya”

Maine Environmental Songs

  • Annie Wenz, “Reaching Katahdin Soon”
  • Stan Rogers, “Make and Break Harbor”
  • John Lincoln Wright, “Wild and High”

Maryland Environmental Songs

  • Doanna Cooper, Dr. James A Duke – “Mountain Laurel”
  • Jim Duke, “Chesapeake Hideaway”

Massachusetts Environmental Songs

Michigan Environmental Songs

Minnesota Environmental Songs

  • Jerry Vandiver – “The Spirit of Fishdance Lake”

Mississippi Environmental Songs

  • Gene LaFond, “Mississippi River Song”

Montana Environmental Songs

  • Coyote Angel Band, “Song of Montana”
  • Walkin’ Jim Stoltz, “Mornin’ in the Mountains”; “Tales of Yellowstone;” “Montana Moon in the Pines”
  • Ron Cisar, “Spell of Yellowstone”

Nebraska Environmental Songs

  • Stan Slaughter, “Ogalalla”

Nevada Environmental Songs

  • Walkin’ Jim Stoltz, “Nevada Walking Song”

New Hampshire Environmental Songs

  • Tom Smith, “New Hampshire Wind
  • Michael Caduto, “New Hampshire Autumn”

New Jersey Environmental Songs

  • The Short Sisters, “Home in Old New Jersey”

New Mexico Environmental Songs

  • Red Thunder (Robby Romero), “Heartbeat”
  • XIT, “I Was Raised”

New York Environmental Songs

  • Pete Seeger, “My Dirty Stream (The Hudson River Song)
  • Rory Block, “The Spirit Returns”
  • The Burns Sisters, “Gas Man”
  • Dan Berggren and Friends, “Adirondack Green”

North Carolina Environmental Songs

  • Bob Patterson, “My Carolina Dreams”
  • Bob Patterson, “A Place in My Heart”
  • Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, “Return to the Dismal Swamp”
  • Railroad Earth, “Grandfather Mountain”

North Dakota Environmental Songs

  • Silent Bear, “The Dakota Access Pipeline Dirty River Blues”

Ohio Environmental Songs

  • Mike Morningstar and Rick Roberts, “Ohio Valley” 
  • Lydia Adams Davis, “Lake Erie”

Oklahoma Environmental Songs

  • Bruce Springstein, “My Oklahoma Home”
  • Woody Guthrie, “The Great Dust Storm”
  • T.E. Kellison Warren, “Don’t Drive into Smoke”

Oregon Environmental Songs

  • Fred Small, “Heart of the Appaloosa” (remembering Chief Jospeh – Rolling Thunder of the Mountains of the Nez Perce and the Wallowa Valley of Oregon 
  • Alice Di Micele, “One with the Tide”
  • Cecelia Ostrow, “My Sweet Oregon Home”
  • Katya Chorover, “Company Towns”
  • Rob Tobias and the Northwest Express, “Bless All the Land”

Pennsylvania Environmental Songs

  • Jim Beer (Lenape), “The River”

Rhode Island Environmental Songs

South Carolina Environmental Songs

  • Michael Murphy, “Carolina in the Pines”

South Dakota Environmental Songs

  • John Trudell, “Rockin the Rez” “All There Is To It”
  • Marty Stuart, “Badlands”
  • Larry Long, “Sacred Black Hills”
  • Rainbow Girls, “Song for Standing Rock”

Tennessee Environmental Songs

  • Dolly Parton, “My Tennesse Mountain Home”
  • Andrew McKnight, “Gatlinburg”
  • Will Linder, “Tennessee Lament”
  • Michael Jonathon, “In the Woods”
  • Sean McCollough, “West Knoxville”

Texas Environmental Songs

  • Bill Oliver, “Texas Oasis”
  • Carolyn Hester, “Flatlands of Texas”
  • Bill Oliver, Glen Waldeck, and the Otter Space Band, “Have to Have a Habitat”
  • Jerry Jeff Walker, “Keep Texas Beautiful”
  • Tish Hinojosa, “Something in the Rain”

Utah Environmental Songs

  • Utah Philips and Ani Difranco, “Natural Resources”

Vermont Environmental Songs

  • Banjo Dan, “Striped Maple”
  • Banjo Dan, “The Catamount is Back”
  • Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen, “The Vermont Waltz”
  • Rik Pallerie, “Hills of Old Vermont”

Virginia Environmental Songs

  • Joyce Johnson Rouse (Earth Mama), “Virginia Beauty”
  • Page Wilson with Reckless Abandon, “Virginia”
  • Joanne Rand, “Shenandoah”
  • Carrie Newcomer, “Do no harm”

Washington Environmental Songs

  • Alice Di Micele, “Chinook Blues”

West Virginia Environmental Songs

  • Mike Morningstar, “Mountaineers are Always Free”
  • Kate Long, “Not for Sale”
  • Davisson Brothers Band, “Dark as a Dungeon”; “Found Dead on a Fence line”
  • John Denver, “Country Roads”
  • Atwater & Donnelly “When I go to West Virginia”
  • Todd Burge, “Up in the West Virginia Hills”
  • Peggy Eyres, “Life of a Mountaineer”

Wisconsin Environmental Songs

Wyoming Environmental Songs