THE UPSIDE OF DOWN

Should I feel guilty about my delight as I survey my garden? My arugula, collards, lettuce, onion greens, hyacinth greens, all are still alive. My puny broccoli plants have fresh florets. And it’s November 23rd! Ironic. I fight for years to increase awareness of global warming’s dangers, then I revel in the extended growing season.

If humans weren’t destroying Earth, would I still write poems? Would the Earth Poets and Musicians still exist? Yes. We love living on this planet, can’t think of a better place, love to poetize and harmonize to Earth’s heartbeat. And that’s what we’ll do at the Miramar Theater, 2844 North Oakland Ave, at an Eco-Extravaganza on Sunday, Nov 29th, at 7 PM.

Global warming is a misnomer. A more accurate name is climate change: extremes and variations, explosion of some species, extinction of many more. Some pundits say that the global economic recession has reduced carbon emissions. Others say we’ve passed the tipping point, and nothing will save us. I imagine we’re located somewhere between the two assessments at this point, and I’ll deserve to tend my little plot of land only if I do what I can to make sure life can survive on it.

WARMING WARNING

Have you heard that earth’s getting warmer?
Soon you will no longer
Long to winter in California
You’ll be happy to winter at home
Though you might want to summer
In Siberia, the Arctic, Antarctica, or Nome

I’ll admit global warming sounds nice
I’m not fond of slipping on ice
Nor shoveling snows
Nor freezing my toes
Nor blowing my nose
Nor layering my clothes
I’d rather repose
In the winter sun’s glow
But, uh oh uh oh uh oh
Global warming, polar melting, oceanic overflow
Global flooding thirst and famine
Perhaps man should reexamine
Whether or not his pleasures are worth
Shaking up the balance of life on earth
Shaking up the balance, shaking up the balance
Is that the way to use our talents?
Shaking up the balance, shaking up the balance
Is that the way to use our talents?

Global warming, polar melting, oceanic overflow
The sea will fall into L.A., San Francisco will sink into the bay
Good-bye Bangladesh, good-bye Cape Cod
Scientists finally agree
The culprit is humanity
This is not the work of God

Copyright, Suzanne Rosenblatt, 2001