Where Has the Spirit of Woodstock Gone?

I have followed the hype related to the 40th anniversary of this iconic event with great interest. In some ways, I hate to admit it, but age-wise, I am a product of that generation.

Despite being quite young at the time, I was very influenced by the social and cultural changes that occurred in the late 60's.  I think most people would agree that it was a decade of unsurpassed social movement and change in this country - at least in my lifetime.

I often wonder why another cultural movement hasn't emerged since that would compare in power and emotion. If anything comes close, it would be the transformative changes due to the internet "world is flat" revolution.

I've always thought that the participants in the Woodstock movement were precursors to the current CSR/sustainability advancements.  As a matter of fact, one of the current environmental leaders I highly respect is Joel Makower.  Did you know he wrote a book about Woodstock before he migrated to his work on the environment? I think you will find his appearance on The Today Show both amusing and informative:

http://makower.typepad.com/joel_makower/2009/07/woodstock-the-oral-history.html

I am also a big fan of most of the music that was showcased at Woodstock.

The themes running through many of the songs and lyrics of Woodstock are about asking for change and a better world.  The Treehugger website had a fantastic montage of these songs that reminds us that this music is timeless and worth hearing again and again:

Back in the 60s, the call for social and environmental change was mostly coming from, and being answered by, people in their 20s.  I have to wonder if and how they put this ethic into their careers.  It's hard to gauge the reality of what the people in this movement were actually able to achieve over the course of 1969-2009, but I suspect the levels of impact and change do not match up to their original hopes and aspirations.

There are many young adults here in 2009 that have a similar passion around creating positive social and environmental change, but the power and spirit of Woodstock seems to be missing.  I sure hope that will change.

-Bob