A song contest wanted pro-environment messages without preaching to the choir--songs about somehow getting a message where it's failed to penetrate before. I think I could write a dozen songs around that theme. But here's the first.

Lyrics

Your business assures us it’s blameless
This mining technique wholly harmless
But it fractures the bedrock of our trust
Lying under the land of coal black dust

I guess you don’t believe me either
Assume each other’s a bold deceiver
We argue with little chance of either winning
But there’s something we agree on when the stripers are running

Don’t we both believe in clean water?
Doesn’t everybody want pure air?
After that we have our differences
So let’s just start there
Trolling rockfish on the bay
That’s enough for today
That’s enough common cause for today

Your side comes with some history
Wanton waste over centuries
So I have reasons for suspicions at first
Pardon me if I assume the worst

My side’s said to exaggerate
Inflate some figures; close off debate
Or trust in sketchy computer projections
Dismiss out of hand the slightest objection

Don’t we all believe in clean water?
Doesn’t everybody want pure air
After that we have our differences
So let’s just start there
Save the rockfish in the bay
That’s enough for today
That’s enough common cause for today

What if I walked with you
To try to talk it through
Could we ever bring it to
Where we both agree what’s true
And a work we both could give our efforts to?
What if you walked with me
To see what we could see
Could our eyes ever agree
On a shared reality
The forest and the trees and world’s economies?

We all believe in clean water
Everybody wants pure air
After that we have our differences
So let’s just start there
Trolling rockfish on the bay
That’s enough for today
That’s enough common cause for today
Save the rockfish in the bay
That’s enough for today
That’s enough common cause for today