Throw away that shad net, get rid of hook and line.
There’s no more Hudson fishing, not for a long, long time.
The poison’s in the riverbed, no matter whose the crime.
But how are we gonna save tomorrow?
One thousand honest workers need that paycheck every week,
Way up in Fort Edward where the PCBs did leak.
And the GE Corporation knows the profits it must seek,
But how are we gonna save tomorrow?
PCB was a clever thing, ’way back in twenty-nine.
Transformers and capacitors got turned out on the line.
Nobody suspected what they’d do to us in time,
And now we got to worry ’bout tomorrow.
Well, the purpose of technology is to take a different turn,
We’ll test each new thing carefully, that’s one thing we have learned,
We need a clean world for all to share, and all to work and earn,
Then, maybe, we can save tomorrow.
Well, the experts knew about it, so why not you and me,
Who controls the information in this land of the free?
The laws didn’t seem to help in stopping PCB,
So how are we gonna save tomorrow?
The longest journey taken needs a first step to begin.
This cleanup’s gonna take a while, but now we must begin.
Clearwater says to lend a hand, a claw, a paw, a fin,
’Cause now we got to work to save tomorrow.
[Spoken] “This song’s too sad.”
Here’s to the lowly blue crab, because he has no fat
And so he’s got no PCB (hardly) we can say, hooray for that
So I’ll not quit my crabbing, you can stick that in your hat.
Somehow, we’re gonna save tomorrow.
[Spoken] “In the old days, coal miners took a canary down to test the air.”
Here’s to the canary we took down in the mine.
Here’s to the Hudson stripers, may their warning be in time.
Here’s to all the young folks singing, “This land is yours and mine.”
That’s how we’re gonna save tomorrow.
Oh, the glory’s on the river, and the struggle’s on the shore
Next year is 1976; let’s start a little war
Anyone who thinks we’re quitting better take just one think more
And that’s how we’re gonna save tomorrow.
So don’t throw away that shad net, don’t junk that hook and line
We’re gonna make some changes, we’re gonna start in time
Clearwater sings to all of us, “This land is yours and mine”
And that’s how we’re gonna save tomorrow
And that’s how we’re gonna save tomorrow.
There’s no more Hudson fishing, not for a long, long time.
The poison’s in the riverbed, no matter whose the crime.
But how are we gonna save tomorrow?
One thousand honest workers need that paycheck every week,
Way up in Fort Edward where the PCBs did leak.
And the GE Corporation knows the profits it must seek,
But how are we gonna save tomorrow?
PCB was a clever thing, ’way back in twenty-nine.
Transformers and capacitors got turned out on the line.
Nobody suspected what they’d do to us in time,
And now we got to worry ’bout tomorrow.
Well, the purpose of technology is to take a different turn,
We’ll test each new thing carefully, that’s one thing we have learned,
We need a clean world for all to share, and all to work and earn,
Then, maybe, we can save tomorrow.
Well, the experts knew about it, so why not you and me,
Who controls the information in this land of the free?
The laws didn’t seem to help in stopping PCB,
So how are we gonna save tomorrow?
The longest journey taken needs a first step to begin.
This cleanup’s gonna take a while, but now we must begin.
Clearwater says to lend a hand, a claw, a paw, a fin,
’Cause now we got to work to save tomorrow.
[Spoken] “This song’s too sad.”
Here’s to the lowly blue crab, because he has no fat
And so he’s got no PCB (hardly) we can say, hooray for that
So I’ll not quit my crabbing, you can stick that in your hat.
Somehow, we’re gonna save tomorrow.
[Spoken] “In the old days, coal miners took a canary down to test the air.”
Here’s to the canary we took down in the mine.
Here’s to the Hudson stripers, may their warning be in time.
Here’s to all the young folks singing, “This land is yours and mine.”
That’s how we’re gonna save tomorrow.
Oh, the glory’s on the river, and the struggle’s on the shore
Next year is 1976; let’s start a little war
Anyone who thinks we’re quitting better take just one think more
And that’s how we’re gonna save tomorrow.
So don’t throw away that shad net, don’t junk that hook and line
We’re gonna make some changes, we’re gonna start in time
Clearwater sings to all of us, “This land is yours and mine”
And that’s how we’re gonna save tomorrow
And that’s how we’re gonna save tomorrow.
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2014/1/29 - 09:13
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Parole e musica di Pete Seeger.
Trovo la canzone nell’album “At 89” del 2008.
I policlorobifenili (PCB) sono composti organici che furono largamente impiegati a partire dal secondo dopoguerra nei liquidi isolanti e refrigeranti necessari al funzionamento di trasformatori, condensatori e motori elettrici. Tra il 1947 ed il 1977 gli enormi impianti di produzione di energia elettrica della General Electric situati a Fort Edward, New York, riversarono nelle acque dell’Hudson centinaia di tonnellate di PCB che andarono a sedimentarsi sul fondo del fiume e contaminarono irreparabilmente l’acqua e la fauna ittica, a tal punto che la specie più diffusa, un piccolo merluzzo chiamato “Tomcod”, nell’arco di soli 50 anni ha modificato il proprio apparato genetico in modo da resistere all’avvelenamento… Buon per lui, che però sta soltanto alla base della catena alimentare, mentre alla sommità sta l’essere umano che non è così adattabile: gli effetti del PCB sul nostro organismo sono disturbi neurologici, basso quoziente intellettivo e problemi di memoria, deficit di attenzione ed iperattività, disordine ormonale, deficit del sistema immunitario, cancro, dermatiti, morbo di Parkinson, malattie cardiache e diabete.
Nel 1966 Pete Seeger e la moglie Toshi Aline Ohta Seeger – scomparsa solo qualche mese fa, nel luglio del 2013, all’età di 91 anni – fondarono un’organizzazione per la salvaguardia del fiume Hudson, la “Hudson River Sloop Clearwater”, che aveva il suo quartier generale ed il suo fulcro su di un’imbarcazione a vela, la “Clearwater”, che ancora oggi incrocia sull’Hudson. La mobilitazione di Seeger e compagni portò al seppur tardivo intervento del Dipartimento di conservazione ambientale dello Stato di New York, che nel 1976 vietò la pesca e l’uso dell’acqua. L’anno seguente il Governo federale bandì i PCB dagli Stati Uniti. A partire dal 1983 le autorità statali e federali avviarono studi per la complessa bonifica del sistema ambientale dell’Hudson, progetti che si sono concretizzati in più fasi a partire dal 2001. La pulizia del fiume comporta la rimozione di milioni di tonnellate di sedimenti dal suo letto, un’operazione che ha richiesto molti investimenti (circa mezzo miliardo di dollari, a carico della General Electric) e molto tempo e che si concluderà solo nei prossimi anni. Si tratta certamente di una delle operazione di recupero ambientale più gigantesche e impegnative mai realizzate dall’uomo.