Image: Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison,
shared by Tess Kincaid
chicken little
grab a wrench, activist gods,
and tell me again how the
sea is rising, mountains falling,
glaciers melting:
I'll meet you in the public park
where we'll dump our tinker toys
on bug-infested grass, Gore will
bring his tools and think of
bring his tools and think of
ways to save the planet while
measuring our rubber sole
foot prints:
foot prints:
quickly now! it's been a mild winter
and baby leaves are birthing,
flowers blooming, oh god, I warned
you, I warned you, and see - see, the
sun has risen another day to flare its
burning testament to man's
latest anomaly.
Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker
I'm loving this early spring. Lately, I've read several reports about certain activists getting a head start on shouting about how we MUST do something about "climate change" before it's too late! Others say it may already be too late. All because we've had a mild winter.
Jeeze Louise, it's about time. For a mild winter, that is. I've grown weary of these winters of 100 to 130 inches of snow. We're due for a break. And that's what it is: A break in what's considered the norm for a winter season.
What CAN we do about climate change? NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. This isn't a static planet. The climate is constantly in flux. The ocean currents will wander and change direction like rivers do on land. Air currents will do and go where they do and go. HUMANS CANNOT CHANGE IT, STOP IT, OR CONTROL IT. PERIOD.
We can be good stewards of our environment, and we should. We should find cleaner energy, and reduce pollution. BUT LET'S BE VERY CLEAR ABOUT SOMETHING: This planet will dispose of us in due course, just as it has done for some 4 billion years. Oh, and that little thing we call the ice age some tens of thousands of years ago: If it weren't for climate change, or "global warming" as it's interchangeably called, Rochester NY would still be buried under about 400 feet or more of solid ice!
So enjoy this mild weather, my little activist friends! Celebrate it!
And quitchurbitchin!
RB
I'm just wondering what the cave men did to cause the ice age. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteHa! JC, it must have been the type of sticks they used for kindling!
DeleteGiggling at JC's comment...I still missed the snow...love that you included Tinker Toys...they were a big part of my childhood...
ReplyDeleteTess, next year, if you're still missing snow, you can come here and shovel my driveway! I only had to do it once this season!
DeleteThat's it...we have to get over ego infested selves..
ReplyDeleteSave our true selves...save the planet..love your deep thoughts..thanks.
I think I learned once in an Environmental Science course that they have only really been recording temperatures for the last 100 years. So, you are right about that. And I do agree with you that we each need to do our part. We need to be responsible. There are so many wasteful things we, as humans, do each day that are so unnecessary. I evidence it each day when I go for my walk and pick up bags of stuff that people have thrown out their car windows. To me, it is just sheer laziness. I live in Calif. and we had hardly any rain all winter but today...it is snowing!!! No need to shovel though...yet! But easterners beware. It starts here and moves your way you know.
ReplyDeletePowerful piece!
ReplyDeleteI so enjoyed this...not just the poem but the afterward.
ReplyDelete=)
Oh YES!!! I'll jump on you bandwagon any day!! I was afraid I was alone!! Thank you for ranting! Laurel
ReplyDeletei've never seen flowers like THAT blooming
ReplyDeleteangular acceleration
verification makes it really hard to comment. you'd get more comments if you turned it off
haha love the Gore ref...and i am all for the message...i think the earth will far survive us, and find a way to be rid of us before we can truly harm her...
ReplyDeleteI am with you- the best thing we all can do is stop having so many of us....we are the problem with over populating this poor planet- the only endangered species should be us- not all the other creatures that have to put up with our nonsense...meanwhile the weather will change as it always has.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post & I pretty much agree. We do need to be better stewards of this planet; I wonder if we can agree how to do that.
ReplyDeleteExcellent, love the reference to tinker toys.
ReplyDelete.. Gore will fly his private plane no doubt! Great, thought provoking Mag!
ReplyDeleteLovely Mag and I believe that you are right. We are due it is a part of the cycle of life.
ReplyDeleteGreat piece!
ReplyDeleteDear R. Burnett Baker: Those who cry wolf? I am enjoying the El Nina winter this year. My back didnt break as much this year~ and so I did, for awhile heard silence from all those "quitchurbitchin" types! I loved Tinkertoys~only boys had them though I had one neighbourhood boy who did let me share~
ReplyDeleteAh - finally someone making sense about global warming (it is cyclical after all) - very cool write, both poetic and the afterword (pun unintentional but, hey, it works for me ...)Nicely done.
ReplyDeletehttp://nsaynne.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/the-rip/