Environmentalism of the 1960s: Logos in "Big Yellow Taxi"

Friday, September 30, 2016

Logos in "Big Yellow Taxi"

Joni Mitchell's hit 1969 song "Big Yellow Taxi" is one of the most popular conservationist songs in all of American pop. Having been covered several times since its release, most notably by The Counting Crows, the song is a clear appeal to logos. Its primary message is extreme human development and the disrespect for nature this subsequently creates. It revolves around the line "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot". Now specifically this "paradise" is most likely Waikiki beach in Honolulu, the site of the famous Royal Hawaiian Hotel. It is the pink hotel mentioned in the opening verse, with several other locations around Hawaii being mentioned throughout the song. The logic of the song is that these natural wonders are being replaced by generic, modern development. The lasting impression of the song is that people never understand the effects of modernization until all the natural beauty has been replaced by development. Companies will charge to see nature, land that was natural for thousands of years will be replaced by development, and people will not notice what has been done until it is much too late. In conclusion the appeal to logos sums up as a call for people to notice this denaturalization before it is too late. Human greed will never end, and nature will pay the price unless people can act and stop the recklessness.
Robert Dries

3 comments:

UnknownSeptember 30, 2016 at 5:15 PM
I agree with your interpretation and the issue. I find it a little frustrating that companies charge to see nature where in fact it is something that should be seen for free. As creatures on this earth, we are entitled to go about and enjoy the planet just as much as anybody else, we all collectively live in this biosphere. It is remarkable how much commercialism and industrialization has taken root and affected our society.
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UnknownSeptember 30, 2016 at 6:40 PM
I think its a shame that businesses, companies, and even individual people don't think of the consequences until those problems are in their face. Its asinine to think that society can continue like this without any regard for sustainability or the environment. Its not even a question of whether if the earth will survive. The earth has existed for millions of years and will continue to do so. However, we will cease to exist as a species if we continue on the destructive path that we're on now. I genuinely hope that positive change will happen, and happen soon.
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Civil Rights: Police BrutalityOctober 2, 2016 at 7:42 AM
I really enjoyed reading your analysis of the logos present in this song. I think its a disgrace that companies don't care about the environment or the ecosystems they are hurting, all they care about is the money and profit they will receive from that piece of infrastructure. Its heartbreaking to think that people take the environment for granted and do not realize that if this behavior is kept up, one day the natural beauty of this world will just be history.

-NIdhi Kalaria
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Critical Introduction

Hello reader and welcome to our blog, “Environmentalism of the 1960s”! We are a group of freshman College Park Scholars at The University of Maryland, and all highly interested in the environment and the various movements to protect it. The Environmentalist Movement of the 1960s was one of the especially big motions in our history, and of the time and therefore many works were produced pushing the environmentalist agenda. Two of these works, which we discuss more thoroughly in our blog, are the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson and the song “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell. These two works differ greatly on the basis of presentation, syntax, general message, and more, however both support the same general stance that human’s need to protect and stop inflicting such excessive harm on the environment. Our blog explores how the differences in these works enable each author to form concrete arguments backing the Environmentalist movement. In Joni Mitchell’s song “Big Yellow Taxi” and Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, the ideas of the environmentalist movement are pushed onto the audience using strong figurative language in the former and concrete facts in the latter.

In “Big Yellow Taxi” figurative language, specifically imagery, plays an important role in expressing Mitchell’s opinions on the environmentalist movement. Using pleas such as “hey farmer farmer put away that DDT now. Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees please” Mitchell creates a visual imagery ‘ultimatum’ for her audience, showing what is being given up for relatively unimportant benefits. Silent Spring appeals to logos and utilizes research-based statistics to instill credibility into the argument presented. The work is flooded with facts which are intertwined with Carson’s opinions on those topics. The major arguments of both works is that a greater public concentration on conservation is needed, and that without this we will surely lose things that can never be replaced. They use stases of action making it clear that unless society changes its ways and evaluates its actions, this planet and all that was once good about it will be lost.

The Environmentalist movement is one that has gained steam throughout the years, yet still has been unable to find truly effective solutions. Finding these solutions has become more difficult as society has grown and industrialization has progressed. A major issue in the 1960s and 70s was the usage of a chemical pesticide, DDT, which is explained further in our blog and the two main works referenced in our blog. Although DDT use is now largely banned, other, debatably worse, problems have presented themselves. We move closer and closer to these issues causing irreversible damage, making it clear just how essential modern environmentalist thought is. For example, air pollution is the world’s number one preventable cause of death, lending credence to the idea that the Environmentalist movement has much further to go before finding true success. With help from activists such as Mitchell and Carson and their works, this movement is able to progress and continue spreading awareness to the importance of protecting the environment.

After reading our blog, you will have gained a better understanding of this movement as a whole, and two influential pieces that supported the movement. We do not have a perfectly ordered approach, as we felt that a more piecemeal approach allows the topic to blend more efficiently and organically, with less of didactic nature. We prove our major arguments by thoroughly examining all the stases and rhetorical appeals from several angles and applying them to both texts with great efficiency and care. We hope you will appreciate the consequences of carelessness in the environment and the true impact mankind has on this one environment we have been given. A feeling that mankind is to blame for many issues should not be a rare feeling, and yet this should also be coupled with hope that we have time to fix it. Have fun reading and learning how together we can all conserve this planet!