“there were morbid symbols
throughout the whole event,” sez the youth activist last wk at the u.n. climate meeting: half the plants in the hall were dying, half were plastic; delegates taking smoke breaks; & quatar (where they now have outside a/c) handing out dates wrapped in their own in- dividual plastic wrap. . . . now the u.n.’s talking about a “youth summit,” but the youth refuse to “sit at the kid’s table”; it was obvious: the people in- side the meeting rooms have absolutely no intention of doing what needs doing: they’ve got theirs, jack – so, sauve qui peut, suckers! mean- while, saudi aramco, the single biggest co2 producer on the planet, “went public” . . . but here in li’l ol’ lawrence, ks, the snow’s piled up, as the crazy-wavy jet stream sucks air down from arctic skies, moisture up from gulf of calif.: yesterday’s hi: 26f / norm 41 lo: 21 / norm 21 – ??! – well, the lo’s are higher nowadays: global heating = more humid everywhere, even where it’s cold – like here, where it’s 23, or anchorage, where it’s 25. & it’s official! – noaa sez nov 2019 = hottest ever; & the year on pace for 2nd place – but don’t tell icelanders: they’re digging out from a winter cyclone – blizzards, avalanches, phone & electric out . . . whereas, in kigali, rwanda, officials have a solution for increased flooding: tear down houses near wetlands! they say they’re saving lives; residents are not compensated, tho, which makes for life problems; true, 48 people died from storms, floods, landslides, etc. this fall, but being homeless can’t be much of a bargain either . . . & in yemen (which has plenty of other human-made problems), climate chaos takes its toll: “the weather now is between two extremes: heavy drought or destructive brief floods and rains,” sez the farmer/herder – who’s having a harder time farming & herding: “the strong rains & floods are due to our sins,” he sez [i’m not saying anything to that] meanwhile, in australia’s most populous state, 120 wildfires blaze; 3 m acres scorched; a 37 mi-long “firefront” n.w. of sydney burning since nov; "people should be under no illusion, we won’t contain the fires by the time the weather deteriorates later this week," sez the state fire official, temps already hi 90s f, no rain in sight til april; & as firefighters use more water, water levels sink faster, & contaminants con- taminate more – like the nasty mix of chemicals in the ash from the fires, which settle on reservoirs, as well as every- where else, including people’s lungs . . . elsewhere, in s.e. u.s.: december tornadoes: 24 +; 63-mi path of destruction through louisiana; “giant pecan trees” uprooted in alabama; roofs ripped off, people trapped in homes, deaths, total chaos; 30 ugandans dead in past 2 wks. (mudslides); nile bursts its banks, transport paralyzed; 55 k dis- placed & 300k acres farmland obliterated (in a small poor country); 24 people killed in d.r. congo in a single landslide, under torrential rains & this weekend: record hi’s across canada, in n.e. u.s., hawai’i; & somehow, plastic holly on people’s doors starts to look like so many funeral wreaths, grover’s corners necropolis not polis: obey obey obey
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June 2021
Kristin Prevallet Author/Editor
I'm a writer & teacher in Lawrence, Kansas who actually believes the scientists. I wrote a book of poems called Of Some Sky that seems to have something to do with all this. |