Music is becoming one of the very common things in the community. There are millions of music works from all over the world that convey various things, ranging from personal things such as life problems, romance, to social problems to the environment.

Speaking of the environment and music, have you ever listened to songs that convey the songwriter’s unrest due to the deteriorating natural environment? Here’s a review of a number of songs that might suit your musical tastes!

1. Isi Rimba Tak Ada Tempat Berpijak Lagi– Iwan Fals
Who doesn’t know Iwan Fals? One of the legendary musicians of the country is famous for his very “popular” ballads. Not only that, he did not hesitate to criticize the government loudly through his works.

Isi Rimba Tak Ada Tempat Berpijak Lagi is one of Iwan Fals’s works which of course leads directly to the government and irresponsible individuals who only think about personal loyalty and damage the environment. In the song he mentions clearly the consequences of human gluttony causing natural damage such as erosion disasters and floods.

2. Down To Earth – Peter Gabriel
Have you ever watched a Disney Pixar movie called Wall-E? This film tells the story of a robot in the future that works to take care of garbage on planet Earth. In those days, the earth was no longer inhabited by man, all there was Wall-E and a cockroach. Down To Earth is the ending theme to this animated film.

The Wall-E movie makes us think about whether it is possible in the future that such a thing can happen given the huge amount of waste generated by human activities. As in the movie Wall-E, the amount of garbage finally drove humans out of the earth because the toxin levels were so high that they could not be lived in, and the earth was inhabited only by a robot and an invulnerable cockroach.

In the song there is the lyric “All these rules don’t apply when you’re high in the sky, so come on down, come on down,” which means that all the rules (regarding protecting the environment) will not apply if you are far above the sky, then go down, then go down. Environmental issues such as garbage will not be seen if the governments only look at it from a distance. The real waste problem exists in the lower middle class community. The upper class is unlikely to be willing to coexist with the scum when they are able to have a cleaner life. So, look down.

In addition, many other messages are contained in the song Down To Earth-Peter Gabriel and deserve to be included in your playlist.

3. Toxic Garbage Island – Gojira
For you metalcore fans, you must hear this one song. The unrest about the dying nature that is usually taken for granted feels the same as the chaos of feelings resulting from a failed romance, or a mental rebellion.

Through his work, this Band from France made us realize that the damage to nature is a serious matter and must be responded to immediately. In this song, Gojira frets with the increasingly damaged environment, plastic waste in the ocean, fires, illegal logging, all of which are contained in a song that sounds frustrating.

4. World On Fire – Sarah McLachlan
Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan also contributed a work dedicated to the environment titled World On Fire released in 1998. This song is about the unrest about nature being damaged so that it can no longer be repaired.

The song sounds soft with a distinctive McLachlan voice. For those of you who like the relaxed pop genre with a slight touch of electric guitar, you must hear this one song.

5. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive
Imagine Dragon always performs with its songs that always feel meaningful and deep. Radioactive tells the story of nature that is no longer shady. One of the lines in the song reads “I’m breathing in chemical.” The section confirms how damaged nature is because what we breathe is a substance from air pollution.

The song also contains a satire on the verse that reads:

I raise my flags, don my clothes
It’s a revolution, I suppose
We’ll paint it red to fit right in
Whoa

The interpretation of this stanza is a satire that there is nothing we can do anymore to improve nature because all effort seems futile and there is no support from powerful people. Uncontrolled pollution seems to be a new revolution in life. The color red is considered a symbol of war or anger, because we are not sufficiently empowered against the large amount of damage caused by humans.

6. Ebiet G Ade – Berita Kepada Kawan
Ebiet G Ade has always given birth to outstanding and famous works. Not only is the music quality, the content value conveyed in the songs is also very high quality. Where he raised a lot about the environment and social. His songs that are also multi-interpretive and beautiful add aesthetic value to his musical works.

Berita Kepada Kawan tells about someone’s search for why the world became like this? the sadness of seeing the broken nature has been expressed since the first stanza in the song that reads: “Perjalanan ini terasa sangat menyedihkan, sayang engkau tak duduk di sampingku kawan,”. The verse conveys that there is much to be said about nature that is no longer beautiful.

The most obvious part of everyone is the couplet that reads:
Mungkin Tuhan mulai bosan melihat tingkah kita
Yang selalu salah dan bangga dengan dosa-dosa
Atau alam mulai enggan bersahabat dengan kita
Coba kita bertanya pada rumput yang bergoyang

Maybe God is getting tired of seeing our behavior
Which is always wrong and proud of sins
Or nature begins to be reluctant to be friendly with us
Let’s ask the swaying grass

This section invites us to introspect ourselves. Know ourselves and realize our mistakes have damaged nature. This temple can be interpreted to mean that it is not nature that is reluctant to be friendly with humans, but that man’s habit of destroying nature backfires on oneself causing natural disasters. Such as floods caused by littering or landslides caused by illegal logging.

7. Lil Dicky – Earth
In this song, Lil Dicky who is a rapper collaborates with many famous musicians, namely Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Halsey, Zac Brown, Sia, Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran and many more. In addition, he also collaborated with a famous actor who is also an environmental activist, Leonardo DiCaprio.

The song’s video clip opens with a news scene on American tv about wildfires and global warming. Then it was followed by a child who found a magic book in the trash can. Through the book, Lil Dicky takes his audience around the world with chants from famous musicians.
Lil Dicky invites the people of the world to love the earth because the earth is our home. In addition to slaughtering the earth, Lil Dicky also conveyed to maintain peace because we live together on earth. Warfare will only be the lord’s eating weapon that will eventually also destroy oneself.

Although almost the entire clip video section is made with animation techniques, still the original version of the song is not suitable for children. The producer of this song also provided a children’s version with better lyrics. The original version of the earth song was intended for adults because the perpetrators of environmental destruction or warfare were only adults. This song deserves to be on your paylist because its intrinsic and extrinsic value is very good.

Some of the songs above are just a small series of many good songs with environmental themes that deserve appreciation from the community. Environmentally themed musical works are proof that although work as a musician has nothing to do with the environment, musicians can play a direct role in environmental love campaigns.

“we love the earth, it is our planet
We love the earth, it is our home,” (*)