Turn up your speakers and listen to Spike's awesome pollution tracker ballad. The words to the ballad are below, so read along with a friend and discover more about how you can take action to reduce the harmful effects of polluting substances.

Download

• Spike-ballad-full.mp3 (MP3 - 5.6 MB)
• Spike-ballad-part1.mp3 (MP3 - 1.73 MB)
• Spike-ballad-part2.mp3 (MP3 - 3.89 MB)

The words for Spike's pollution ballad are also available for download and printing.

• Spike - pollution tracker ballad (PDF - 239.91 KB)
• Spike - pollution tracker ballad (ZIP/RTF - 1.17 MB)

Spike - pollution tracker ballad

Spike is a water dragon
Who cares about our air.
He knows we have to help it,
We have to do our share.

For all who have to breathe it,
Our invisible source of life,
We are quickly heading down
A path that leads to strife.

Spike is based in Canberra,
In Australia's ACT,
Working for the government
It's now his job to be,

A travelling inspector,
Moving round our land,
Finding all the nasty substances,
He needs a helping hand.

'Cause even though they're everywhere
And we are all to blame,
We need to see what can be done
To bring about a change.

So if you can, please help him,
Source and identify,
What substances and pollutants
Are emitted to the sky.

We need to know exactly what,
Chemicals can do.
Emitted to the atmosphere,
They harm both me and you.

Then when this information
Is shared amongst us all,
We each can do our little bit
To help the levels fall.

Pollutants cover many things
That are toxic in the air
But wasting time on blaming,
Isn't really fair.

As sometimes air pollution
Is caused when people aim
To help out the environment,
So they are not to blame.

Like burning parts of forests
To regenerate the trees,
Carbon monoxide's emitted
And blown into the breeze.

But sometimes the good outweighs the bad
And sometimes there's a cost.
We have to look at both of these
Ensuring everything's not lost.

So join Spike on his journey
To cities, states and towns,
To regions all across the land,
Help track pollutants down.

The journey

Spike flew out from Canberra
An eagle was his ride,
Landing east of Dubbo
Near the Great Divide.

He met some other trackers
In good old Sydney town,
Who told Spike of their findings
And pollutants they had found.

Like nasty little benzenes,
Carbon monoxide too,
Lead and other compounds
That come from me and you.

When we use our mowers
Or fly by aeroplane,
Driving in the family car
To a local football game.

Or burning wood to keep us warm
Or on the bus to town,
City, state, no matter where,
Those pollutants are around.

Spike thanked every single tracker
And begged the eager mob,
To be aware and stay alert,
Keep their minds upon the job.

He hitched a ride with a roo
North across the border,
Finding things in Queensland
Were also of an order.

Where some emitted arsenic,
Others mercury and lead,
When sulfur dioxide was also found
It spun out his spikey head.

So off he went to Kakadu,
Where he found out from a Ranger,
That necessary forest burns
Also put the air in danger.

Emitting benzenes and formaldehyde,
Carbon monoxide as well,
This was done in every state,
As far as he could tell.

Spike also thanked him for his help
Then off to W.A.
Swam out to an oil rig,
Swam back, all in one day.

Then visited a refinery
Located on the coast.
Toured an oil tanker
Then thanked the local hosts.

For all they'd helped him document
Pollutants in the air,
The facts about the ore mines,
Would help more become aware.

An emu picked him up in Perth
For the journey cross the plain,
In South Australia he stopped to see
What data he could gain.

At a water treatment plant,
Emission indicators read,
Nitrogen and phosphorus
And traces of some lead.

With this local data
He joined dolphins heading south,
Moving into Hobart
Through the Derwent's mouth.

There Spike took a school group
To test the forest air,
And found oxides of nitrogen
Were plentiful in there.

Also heaps of oxygen
Emitted by every tree,
Spike also noted forests
Give oxygen for free.

He knew this was important,
Like everything he'd seen.
And vital to Earth's future health
Was to keep our planet clean.

His next stop was Victoria,
And a giant factory,
Making bread and products,
Consumed by you and me.

It emitted to the atmosphere
Ethanol as well.
Spike smelled that making bread
Produced a very distinctive smell.

Once again it was time to leave
And take the information home.
Spike knew for sure he couldn't
Have done it on his own.

As people all around the land
Had helped him along the way,
Tracking air pollutants
Each and every day.

The data he collected
Was uploaded to a site,
Where the National Pollutant Inventory
Can be viewed both day and night.

Spike took the time to give a speech
About what he had found.
He mentioned how in every state
Pollutants were around.

Caused by humans every day,
At home, at work, at play,
We had to keep a track of them,
We had to find a way.

To make our environment healthier
Our land, our water, our air,
It's up to all of us,
We have to be aware.

So join with Spike and all his friends,
Keep watch, collect and share,
Data and information
On the water, land and air.

Know what it is that we all do,
To add to the pollution.
Change our ways so we become
Part of the solution.

Robert Colliver, 2008

© Commonwealth of Australia 2008