In the true spirit of Clearwater’s founder, Pete Seeger, Clearwater’s Power of Song captured the energy and imagination of last summer’s America’s Great Outdoors Youth Listening sessions in a music video featuring a parody of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” Power of Song members wrote new verses to voice their personal policy recommendations to the Obama Administration. Pete Seeger joined the youth in performance to create the music video, produced with support from Our Hudson Tomorrow and the Electronic Music Foundation.
Our Hudson Valley youth are now being heard on a national level as part of the formal policy recommendations for a 21st century conservation agenda. The Power of Song video, now featured on Clearwater’s website, was tapped by the Department of Interior Youth Division as a model for its own multimedia presentation for the America’s Great Outdoors report. Clearwater’s Power of Song youth’s version of “This Land” serves as the soundtrack for the DOI’s multimedia piece, featuring highlight footage of Clearwater programs and comments from the 25 listening sessions that took place around the country.
Clearwater is proud of its passionate young leaders who attended this session and who aspire to make a difference in our country. We applaud their determination and leadership in making our communities better places. “You may think that no one listens to youth,” said youth leader Carlos Duran, “take the initiative! In a big group, it is hard to get something started, but if someone starts something, all it takes is a spark to have a fire!”
More than ever we need to invest in our youth in helping them realize a green, sustainable future.
