Ecocriticism through Big Yellow Taxi

Big Yellow Taxi is a song written by Joni Mitchell, performed here by Counting Crows, about not appreciating what you have when you have it, only acknowledging its importance once it leaves. The environment is something we all take for granted. People often do their best when it comes to sustainable living, but it gets difficult when everyone (namely large corporations that contribute the most to climate change) doesn’t give it their all. Those in power aren’t going to realize what we’ve lost until it’s too late to do anything.

 

The line, “They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum / And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them” is very important in this song. It shows that “they” (the ones in charge/the government) only truly care about profit. They took something that was easily accessible to all, and free, and put it behind a paywall to get more money from the public. Putting the trees in a museum is also ripping them from their habitat, placing them somewhere they were not meant to be, where they will not thrive. Like zoos, (those who do not focus on rehabilitation) who take animals out of their habitats just so humans can pay to see them.

 

A big element in ecocriticism that is discussed in “Literary Theory” by Mary Kelges is the term anthropocentrism. That’s a big word for Elmo. The first half of the word ‘anthro’ meaning humans, and the second half, ‘centrism’ meaning center. Anthropocentrism is all about how humans see themselves at the center of the world, that nature is there to serve them and that’s it. It is a belief held by a lot of people high up in government, those who wish to drill, drill, drill, for more oil to make their lives better, either not realizing or not caring about how it affects the environment.

The first line of the song jumps right to the point, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”. We had this beautiful, natural paradise and they paved it, put up a parking lot for the new hotel and boutique; things that humans see as more important than nature itself. It’s not something we need, it’s just for our pleasure. We take nature for granted, and we won’t know what the impact is until it is all gone and there is nothing for us to do to get it back.

In “The Shoulders We Stand on: An Introduction to Ethnicity and Ecocriticism”, authors Joni Anderson and Scott Slovic discuss the first and second wave of ecocriticism described by Lawrence Buell. This song emulates the first wave where we appreciate nature and try to keep humans separate, mitigating the harm they inflict.

“I don't wanna give it, why you wanna give it?

Why you wanna give it all away? Hey, hey, hey

Now you wanna give it, ah, she wanna give it

'Cause she's giving it all away,”

The use of “she” in this is alluding to mother nature; she wants to give us what she has and we are giving it up, we are crumpling the gift she’s given us and throwing it right in the trash.

 

“Hey, farmer, farmer, put away your DDT

I don't care about spots on my apples

Leave me the birds and the bees

Please!”

 

DDT is a pesticide that farmers used to put on their crops that severely harm other parts of the environment. Often, they are not needed—spots on apples won’t kill you, they’re just kinda ugly to see. DDT was widely used but has been banned because of the effect it had on animals higher up in the food chain. It builds up in fatty tissue and has been seen to cause reproductive issues and cause cancer in humans. The singer is pleading; keep the wildlife safe, we’ll take the ugly apples!