Tag: anthropocene

NaPoWriMo Day 5

On By WinstonIn Embrace the Wild, Environment, Global Issues, Green Energy, NaPoWriMo, Nature, Personal Responsibility, Poetry, Reaping What We've Sown, Science, Society, spring, The Bill Always Comes Due, The Choices We Make, ValuesLeave a comment

So, the area I live in is currently in the grip of a massive, late season ice storm. Today’s poem is in recognition of this and looks at the dangers of climate change and our role in it. Enjoy!

Anthropocene

Ice yet lies thick upon the ground,

Though winter’s in the past,

Now any day the spring will come,

This mis’ry cannot last.

Yet ice still clings to every branch,

And turns the roads to glass,

But soon enough this all will melt,

Replaced by sweet, green grass.

And still the ice yet thicker grows,

What if this is the year?

The winter holds on just too long,

What will we eat my dear?

Ice covered fields, as yet unthawed,

Too late to plant a crop,

You think this just a farmer thing,

Wait ‘til you try to shop!

The ice is just our weather here,

Elsewhere it’s floods and drought,

With wildfires burning free,

Can be but little doubt.

This ice you see is just one face,

Of what our choices bought,

Now look in terror ‘round the globe,

What our own hands have wrought.

This ice will melt, do not despair,

The end is not yet writ,

We yet may change our future path,

If we but find the wit.

Yet even though the ice will melt,

Don’t think that all is well,

If we refuse to change our ways,

That tale’s too sad to tell.

Cheers,

NaPoWriMo 2022 Day 21

On By WinstonIn Embrace the Wild, Environment, Global Issues, NaPoWriMo, Nature, Personal Responsibility, SocietyLeave a comment

If you have been reading my entries so far this year, you will know that I love nature. So when I look at what we do to it and our wholesale destruction of it, I get pretty depressed. But it’s not hopeless. There are much smarter people than I who are working at ways to undo some of the harm we have done and minimize it going forward. I can only hope we can find a way forward for all life on the Earth, not just the human parts of it.

The Time Is Now

I feel the earth within my bones,

In my blood flows the sea.

I am the green and growing land,

It’s creatures living free.

I am the burning desert sands,

The ancient glacier’s ice.

I am the mighty lion’s roar,

And scampering of mice.

Yes I am nature, I am all,

The things you should embrace.

But do it soon. No! Do it now!

These treasures can’t replace.

I am the silent island there,

Beneath a rising sea.

A silence spreading everywhere,

When you have murdered me.

It’s not too late, there still is time,

To change what fate we choose.

But though there’s time, there is not much,

And surely none to lose.

So make the choice and take a step,

Toward that better way.

Just have the faith to make the change,

We’ll see a better day.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 15

On By WinstonIn Environment, Global Issues, NaPoWriMo, Nature, Poetry, Science, Society, Uncategorized, Values2 Comments

I know not everyone believes in the reality of climate change. I’ve read a lot on both sides of the question and to me it’s obvious that we’re having a huge impact on the planet. Wherever you sit on this debate, I hope you enjoy today’s poem.

OUR CHANGING WORLD

The climate’s changing very fast,

More than we thought it could.

The future’s looking different than,

Most of us thought it would.

 

I know there’s those who claim that all,

The climate data’s fake.

And nothing that is done by us,

Could any difference make.

 

But I have looked at this a lot,

And I just can’t agree.

The climate’s changing and the cause,

Comes down to you and me.

 

We love our cars, we love our trucks,

We love our SUVs,

We love to drive so who cares if,

They cut down all the trees.

 

We love our cities sprawling ‘burbs,

We’ll pave all of the farms.

And as we stand in flooded streets,

Claim we don’t cause these harms.

 

We’ve engineered some crops that can,

Both heat and drought resist.

But GMOs are “evil” so,

That research gets dismissed.

 

As millions starve because their land,

Can them no longer feed.

We let our surplus food just rot,

So much more than we need.

 

As deserts grow and forests shrink,

We multiply so fast.

‘Til all that’s left to eat is us.

Then see how long we last.

 

But disregard this poem ’cause,

It’s not what you would hear,

I’m just another scaremonger,

Who’s spreading pointless fear.

 

When the last lonely tree has died,

On dead and barren Earth.

Look then and see what we’ve done to,

The planet of our birth.

 

Cheers, Winston