The acid smog in the air
rains into rivers
and joins factory sludge
and field chemicals
on their way to the sea.The obscene slime
spreads from ocean
to ocean and from coast
to oily coast.The air cannot wash its
hair because trees and shrubs
have not been replanted
most places by most people.Wood and coal and oil burn on,
rivers are damned, mostly
unfresh water remains
turning a blue planet brown.We humans might see
our world changing,
but we see screens
and windshields more
than we see our skies.
[Thanks to Elizabeth Kolbert for her
two recent New Yorker articles
reporting on the research for this.]
Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, January 4, 2014
Views from the Edge 
Gordon, I have just been re-reading (for about the 70th time) Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and just this morning read the section on the desolation near the gates of Mordor. I think Tolkien must have had a vision of what is happening now, 80-some years later, when oil, gas, and coal companies have been given almost carte blanche to destroy the planet. I wish I could believe that the wind is changing on this, but they have sooo much money, and can run endless propaganda ads on television on “new, safe” methods of mining, transporting, etc. fossil fuels. I feel nauseous every time one of those collections of lies come up on the screen. And, at this point, it is hard to see how enough people can switch from fossil fuel to wind, water, and solar power quickly enough to halt the destruction.
I’m a cheery soul, am I not? Maybe God will finally intervene in His creation, and turn the minds of enough “deciders” to save the beautiful planet he made. If His creatures in power continue being motivated by incomprehensible greed, I am afraid for the children and grandchildren of my families and friends.
I guess one must relax and enjoy the good that is still here. Our families, Barclay, our Mr. Puck, friends, great art and music, comedy, and even occasional silliness. I may try to reconstruct my list of funny place names from our England trips, one sample, Ashford-in-the-Water. Seriously. That’s a town, a very pretty town in which we stayed. There’s one named Marlowe Bottom. Lots more.
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CA, I just wrote you a long response only to have it disappear when I (temporarily) left the page to insure that the website address I wanted to share was correct: http://www.requiem2020.org. John Lince Hopkins created Requiem2020 as an artist’s response to the all but certain “climate departure” around 2020. I share your revulsion and doubt that there’s much we can do to make the switch before the damage is irretrievable.
Actually the Carolyn I have always known since kindergarten IS a cheerful soul. A joyful soul. Which makes it all the harder, I think, to see the assault on beauty and goodness. Keep the silliness coming. Watch a Monte Python. Put on Bach, Mozart, and all the great composers and the orchestras who so wonderfully perform their works. Kneel at the Episcopal Church and keep listening for God in the midst of it all.
There’s a new hymn lyric (2007) set to the tune of King’s Weston, called Jesus Entered Egypt. We sang it last Sunday. “Jesus entered Egypt fleeing Herod’s hand, living as an alien in a foreign land. Far from home and country with his family, was there room and welcome for this refuge?” That’s just the first of three stanzas. More and more I feel like a stranger in a foreign land. I think that’s actually some indication that God is close.
Grace and Peace,
Gordon
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I missed those New Yorker articles by Kolbert. She seems to be touching on the fact that CO2 is the main culprit in the acidification of the oceans although there also seems to be an emphasis on acid rain which may or may not be the same phenomenon. Anyway thans for the heads up on this research in the NYER.
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Thanks, Gary. Will make Steve’s day. Happy New Year.
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