Note: You can safely skip this piece if you’re interested only in technology products or you have OD’d on Michael Jackson. There's plenty of other good stuff on this site for you; we’ll connect again soon. If you’re open to odd discovery, read on.

Two big stories crisscross on the airwaves and news pages this week: the death of entertainer Michael Jackson and passage of an historic energy and global warming bill by the U.S. House of Representatives. Only after watching an hour or so of King of Pop tribute videos did I see the surprising green thread between these strange bedfellows.    

I figured I knew both parties pretty well: Jackson, the sad, creepy freak with thriller grooves and moves; Congress, a bunch of clucking, near-sighted chickens gorging on special-interest feed. 

So I was pleasantly surprised Friday when the American Clean Energy and Security Act passed the House 219-212. As the NY Times story noted:

The vote was the first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change. The legislation, which passed despite deep divisions among Democrats, could lead to profound changes in many sectors of the economy, including electric power generation, agriculture, manufacturing and construction.

The bill, which now must clear a loudly clucking Senate, aims by 2020 to reduce U.S. greenhouse gases to 17 percent below 2005 levels, and 83 percent by 2050. It mandates that 20 percent of the nation’s energy come from renewable sources including solar, wind and geothermal over the next decade. The draft also devotes billions of dollars to new energy projects, low-carbon agriculture, cleaner coal and electric vehicles.

There are, of course, miles of special interests to go before a final bill. Still, was it possible that Congress (a clot of vocal global warming deniers notwithstanding) might yet find a little rooster under all those chicken feathers?   

Skinny Legs, Big Heart

But the real eye opener came watching the endlessly looping video tributes with my wife on VH1. Alongside the moon-walking, battle-dancing “Thriller,” “Billie Jean,” “Smooth Criminal,” etc., rose a Michael Jackson we never knew. Or had forgotten about.

Michael Jackson visiting doomed children in hospitals. Feeding brittle famine victims. Urging inner-city kids from gang violence. By the time “We Are the World” aired, I’m not ashamed to say I was moved. Who knew this cartoonish, androgyne punch line also was a serious, passionate humanitarian voice?  I mean, he got Ray Charles and Bruce Springsteen and Kenny Rogers and Cyndi Lauper and Hall & Oates and Dan Aykroyd and Huey Lewis and that little troll guy from Journey and every other big American music star from the mid-'80s to come out and help raise millions for starving Africans.

Then the real eye opener.   

Neither Leslie nor I had even seen Jackson’s "Earth Song," from the 1995 album "HIStory." (I later found that this No. 1 Brit hit was never released in the United States.) If you haven’t seen it, join the four million-plus worldwide who’ve done so. Here’s the video link. It’s worth 6 minutes and 43 seconds of your time.

The operatic gospel opus starts with forested Eden, then quickly descends to a tattered Jackson wandering a hellish, orange, oil-smoked wasteland. Soon he’s joined in misery by remote Tanzanian villagers, a Brazilian rain forest tribe and war-torn Croatian villagers.  As elephants die, forests fall, and cottages burn and crumble, each group drops to its knees, ripping at fistfuls of earth. As dirt slips between their agonized fingers, Jackson wails: 

What about sunrise?

What about rain?

What about animals?

Did you ever stop to notice,

The crying Earth, the weeping shores?

As destruction mounts, a dark Biblical wind rages across the sky. Destruction or resurrection? The villagers brace; Jackson does too. And suddenly, perhaps by sheer will and mystical chant, the nightmare begins to reverse. Hacked trees mend and again stand tall. A slaughtered elephant regains its stolen tusks and bounds to its feet. The eyes of a sniper victim pop open, and he too arises. Throughout the storm, the possessed performer wails: "What about us? What about us?"  It’s over the top, melodramatic, messianic, but unexpectedly gripping. We watch it three times in a row.     

Top of the Pop Tree

Michael Jackson used his perch atop the pop world to call attention to blights destroying roots below: reckless exploitation of natural resources, famine and hunger, urban decay, homelessness, sickness, animal slaughter, and war. Regardless of what you think about his strange off-stage life, his music or victim-y megalomania, there’s no denying Jackson advanced awareness and outrage over big global issues in his own, unique way. In 2000, he set a world record for "Most Charities Supported by a Pop Star," averaging 39 charitable donations a year. 

“Earth Song” and Jackson’s other artistic outcries on behalf of the environment are one voice in a slow chorus across decades and generations that eventually calls enough people to take notice and, hopefully, action. It is the foundational work that must take place long before any government or business can know how to act, or know why, to avert further damage. Or before any technology can be deployed in service of clever solutions.

And that is the slender green thread between a broken pop star and a conflicted Congress.

What about us? You wanna be starting something? It’s been a long time since I’ve taken many life clues from pop. But Michael Jackson’s questions haunt me.