A NEW YEAR REFLECTION
A NEW YEAR REFLECTION – A poem by Mike Thomas
Diminishing gas and not much oil
Would pose a future world of endless toil
Of coal there is yet no dearth
Its use helps to burn a warming Earth
Rising seas wont douse the flames
Yet serve to stifle human aims
As islands drown and defences breach
The centres of power the tide will reach
The seaside is no place of fun
The water’s too deep and the sand has all gone
Half the world soaks in torrential rain
The other suffers endless pain
With drought that seems to have no end
Migration beckons round the bend
An economic system has unfurled
Fuels gross inequality across the world
A spark of hope quickly passes
As the world is cloaked by greenhouse gases
This is no soothing duvet
But heralds instead a future doomsday
But who-oh who, is going to listen
The birds still sing and the raindrops glisten
We fly to the Sun to escape the cold
To sparkling seas and sunsets of gold
Or venture North for lights in the sky
That arouse the mind and delight the eye
What can convince those still in denial
Of a future that looks so ugly and vile?
“No need to worry its all just fake news
Many experts have different views
Climate science has got it so wrong
Fossil fuels make us humans so strong!!”
What have we heard in twenty nineteen?
All the wrong records we have seen
For floods, heat and drought and widespread migration
Victims in almost every nation
To political leaders we cannot turn
If we rely on them the Earth will burn
The pot of solutions almost empty
As we start the year of twenty twenty
Australia starts with fireworks displays
While burning trees form a poisonous haze
And thousands are forced to flee to the beach
To run from their homes the flames will reach
Ice from the Poles the warmth will prise
As ocean sea levels continue to rise
A change in the water from salt to clear
May cause a change many scientists fear
A warming stream changes direction
As northern people engage in deep reflection
Its no longer heat that causes a rage
As they start to experience a new ice age
Many sites and resorts once renowned
Are flooded and then eventually drowned
As one year ends and another begins
We must not hide from all our sins
But embrace the new year in a spirit of hope
We cannot clutch at a saving rope
No prospect of endless electricity
Prepare the way for voluntary simplicity
Acknowledge the gains we made in the past
From coal and oil and natural gas
The future beckons a new approach
The natural world we no longer poach
The wealth we create is there to share
For the poor and sick we must always care
Live as if we understand the natural world on which we depend
Not an enemy from which we try to defend
From the powerful forces of wind and heat
We cannot run, yet alone beat
Say no to fear, competition and greed
And start to sew a different seed
Future kids regarded just like our own
Will benefit from those seeds we’ve sown
We must not reflect on our own self concern
Our Earth will provide what we can never earn
A change in perception has just begun
More renewable energy from the wind and sun
But will this be enough to save us from human insanity?
We must understand the need for growing biodiversity
Crops must be drawn from a wider range
In adapting to the impacts of climate change
From wasteful consumption rich nations must turn
From indigenous peoples we can often learn
Economic growth we cannot sustain
From a simple life the rich world can gain
From wasteful consumption we must run
Humans must begin to act as one
Resist the urge to reach for the stars
Imagine we are faced by a threat from Mars
Greta urges a human desire
“To act as if our house were on fire”.
