(The explanation of the planet’s natural greenhouse effect, and how humans, by way of industrialising and monetising the world, created the enhanced greenhouse effect to cause global warming (with devastating current and potential climate-related impacts). How we are currently responding to this crisis, and how we should act in the future, to mitigate the acceleration of warming, before it is too late).
Our house, our host, is made of glass
Light gets in and warm air is trapped
Without this house we wouldn’t survive
It’d be too cold-no life could thrive
Yes, over millions of years, ice ages have come and gone
There have been times when it’s been far too warm
But something different is happening, and it’s happening fast
It’s getting warmer, much quicker than in the past
We’ve built machines, plundered fossil fuels,
Made farms into factories, set no rules,
Trees torn down, coal burned at pace,
Countries competing in the money race.
All this has caused heat-trapping gases
CO2, methane-at a level that’s disastrous
In the past these gases had somewhere to go,
The trees absorbed them, there was a balanced flow.
But now our house has less sinks and more gas,
And so it’s getting warmer and way too fast.
One degree hotter in the last 100 years,
“Is that all?” the American President jeers
“Yes, what’s the big deal?” I can hear you cry
“We like hot summers, under the sun we will lie”
Yes, But it’s not simple, it’s an enclosed system
There’s complex energy flows, with a natural rhythm
It’s not just a case of energy in then out,
Currents flow, air moves, hot and cold swirling about
These natural patterns have kept climates in order
With identifiable, predictable planetary borders
But now we have realized something’s new,
It’s been caused by humans: yes, by me and by you
Human constructs driving wants not needs
Shirking responsibility, massaging corporate greed
The way we live has warmed up the air
To a level that we may never repair
“Oh don’t be daft, It’ll all be fine”
Well, look at the evidence and the warning signs
Sea levels rising, washing homes away for good
Droughts and forest fires, insecurity of food,
More storms, stronger, harder than before,
Heavier rain, landslides, losing our shores,
Death of reefs, habitats change
Wildlife roaming way out of range,
Harder soil, less able to grow,
Poverty, heat waves, unusual snow.
A pattern of weather we don’t recognize or know.
And these vital signs have been put to debate,
Is it true? Is it reliable? And are we too late?
A meeting in Paris saw Nations agree,
It is humans’ fault. They made a plea
To decarbonize how we live, reduce these gases
Live sustainably: a call to the masses
The agreement was welcome. It’s about the future,
Not about us, it’s for the children we nurture
A meeting of nations is the starter
But individual actions are often much harder,
When I start and drive my car,
I don’t think of the damage afar,
Or when I buy a steak or get on a plane,
It’s hard to imagine someone else’s pain.
It’s a tragedy of the commons,
Negative externalities
The polar bears and the rising seas
So how to mitigate, adapt, what’s the solution?
Simply a case of less greenhouse gas pollution?
The human constructs get in the way,
Fuelling a lifestyle, travelling, bills to pay.
But the meeting in Poland focused our view,
Keep warming to 1.5 maximum, not to 2 https://www.ipcc.ch/
And the developed world has the lion’s share
After all, it was they who landed us there
We’ve got to innovate; energy limits the solution
Hydrogen-zero carbon-no pollution
But how much would you pay to ensure your survival?
The last coconut on the island? More than your rival?
We have to adapt, shift expectations,
Not measure success in dollars, but collaborate as nations
December 2018
Contemporary Poetry: A Snapshot in Time 