I'm Not Complaining

As summer looms closer,
Along with my last breath,
Like so many other middle-class men,
I am grappling with death,

When I should be telling myself instead,
'You are not middle class',
Maybe your parents clawed their way to it,
But the world has changed and it's missed your grasp,

You will find out in the coming summers,
And the climbing degrees,
Even those who are now legit ok,
No value in money,

Except for those,
With so much, it's like air,
They breathe it in, inside protective domes,
Then scoff at those who say the world's not fair.

All The Best

As storms land in Cuba,
Florida, Philippines,
Puerto Rico, Atlantic Canada,
And all spots in between,

Russia's annexing Ukrain'an regions,
It'ly's fascist, again,
The U.S. stirring the pot in China,
U.K. embassy moves to Jerus'lem,

Corporations have led for far too long,
Profit over people,
Only works until conditions for them,
Become beyond feeble,

Then it's too late,
Like bandaids on cancer,
We created our own worst enemies,
I hope that they treat themselves much better.

The Climate Revolution

Oh, and on rev'lution,
There is hypocracy,
Industrial, Digital, Internet,
Our human legacy,

No one denies while we live in the times,
"Well, this ain't our doing",
(As long as we can distance ourselves from,
The nasty adjunct things).

Yet, here we are living through another,
Undeniable truth,
Catastrophes born of revolutions,
Passed on to the next youths.

Since there's no good,
Had from this last great feat,
All's left is for us to distance ourselves,
Though it's hard to get away from this heat.

The Same Old Song

Are two forces meeting?
It can't be that simple,
Like every fantasy book ever wrote,
Of good fighting evil,

On one side those who want to save the world,
By fighting for climate,
Protection for workers and refugees,
Denouncing war, calling for human rights,

Then there are those who want to save themselves,
Consequences be damned,
They're either rich or been trounced on too long,
To see past their own end.

Then there is me,
(Speaking for everyone),
Feeling I can go nowhere, left or right,
Desparately wanting a revolution.

A Day In The Life

I went to the kitchen,
I opened up the fridge,
Sifted through the fresh food and leftovers,
Took my time as I did,

Turned on the stove and warmed up what I chose,
Listening to the news,
Energy crises in much of the world,
Blamed on greedy oligarchs by some views,

When I'm done I run the tap, 'til it's hot,
So much goes down the drain,
While people scramble over muddy pits,
Facing months of no rain,

And I am poor,
At least by some measures,
To keep me in my place and wish for more,
So I don't think of universal cures.

You Can't Change?

It is a slow news day,
Let me talk about me,
Occupying my time with handiwork,
No help to soci'ty,

I may take moments staring into space,
No carbon footprint, then,
Except for the furnace running inside,
Keeping warm all my needless possessions,

Sent in pieces around the world in ships,
Places I'll never be,
To be assembled then shipped one more time,
Wrapped in plastic for me.

Funny, but true,
Well, now I'm not so sure,
You're born into a system you can't change-
Or's that thought born of the system's structure?

The Day's Sum-up

Bannon's been indicted,
Mada Masr's been charged,
Pakistan is under water once more,
It's just a drop, so far,

A queen just died, but her riches remain,
Truss once wanted her gone,
But there's a deal only the elite know,
That means to play she's got to play along,

Cornel and Briahna stated it well,
It's about truth not words,
Maybe they'd shake their heads at that trite line,
But I've not room for more,

Neither do they,
Dare I say you don't, too,
Each generation fears they'll be the last,
I fear to say we're not, might not be true.

The Real Conspiracy

Even before Covid,
The world was melting down,
I don't know what a conspiracy is,
But timing is profound,

Climate took a backseat for two years,
Really, at the nexus,
I remember thinking in naught eighteen,
Right now, there should be no other focus,

Well, sure, there were more immediate threats,
To others, like famine,
Local's what concerns, and my biggest threat,
Was oil industry's sins,

Now they're forgot,
With the Inflation Act,
I won't get into that conspiracy,
There sure is not enough room here for that.

Climate Crisis Intro

Said lots about climate,
I'm not the only one,
Thankfully, where I live is not hard hit,
Unlike other nations,

But Canada's honeymoon will be short,
Maybe before the droughts,
We laud our friendship with America,
But our wealth of water puts that at risk,

Not to mention that global climate woes,
Destroys economies,
Just like the internet connects us all,
It's an analogy,

I know, I know,
I've said naught new,
The fact is it has all been said before,
Next time I will purport different views.

World Truth 1

The sun's shining on me,
Thank goodness for the clouds,
Small mercies in this age of climate change,
Are all that are allowed,

I'm not even in the depths of the hell,
Many people are in,
Japan, India, Australia, Utah,
Are just a few living in an oven,

Then there are drought-ridden wastelands about,
Too many to name here,
Tornados, hurricanes, floods, you name it,
It's not too wild to fear,

And we're in it,
Well, we're far from the cap,
Woe our children and those that come after,
If the human race gets as far as that.

Start to Die

On the cusp of the ring,
We're safe from the death heat,
Where they thought things would be safe from melting,
As they relished their feats,

The irony combusted as they built,
Now we all pay the price,
Us, amidst gails that pull down massive trees,
While we take shelter from golf balls of ice,

There was a time when time appeared so slow,
Geological age,
But what's passed is no proof of what's to come,
Ask anyone that's caged,

Is this too dire?
There's been crises before
We've e'er seemed to dodge, though with casualties,
Maybe there are no chances anymore.

Dizzy

No one loves everyone,
No matter what they say,
Everyone has at least someone in life,
Who's not their fan, today,

Who might change their mind soon, but not before,
They're replaced by someone,
Even the most loved person in this life,
Is some individual's non-person,

For how else do you think we've got so far,
With cars, phones, and climate?
If humans shared no animosity,
We'd be done with all that,

So, viva hate!
Let's sing it to the sky,
At least where we think that it is hiding,
Past the smog, smoke, and mushroom clouds so high.

What Will We Be?

Can one see farther than,
The end of a project,
When what you wanted to create is done?
How few of us project,

To the days when what we made's long forgot,
But what was made remains,
Not of nature but embedded in it,
An epoch soon just an underground vein,

Defined as a thin layer of plastics,
Our name, Anthropocene,
A glitch in the stitch of this planet's time,
Like a shameful bad scene,

We all have those,
I can think of a few.
Will we live to bemoan or die before,
We can survive having thought life anew?

The Inevitable

The light there is blinking,
Marking time on its own,
Until I sit down to turn on the thing,
It is, then, not alone,

It extends from my fingers, it is me,
Until I disconnect,
Manufactured in some far factory,
By people and machines I've never met.

Remember you will never interfere,
With this cycle of life,
We've already shot our scraps into space,
Trash spread out in our path,

That's how we roll,
Surprised where this has gone?
If you let your eyes see what's around you,
You'll see the result of evolution.

Catching Up

RBG passed away,
Graham's reversed claims he made,
Trump will fill her seat before November,
Goodbye, Roe versus Wade,

Tik-tok can live again in the U.S.,
The data now can stay,
In America in Walmart's assets,
I'm sure there's no cash from that Trump has made,

Covid19's on the rise everywhere,
Still, folks are fighting masks,
Like science is a big conspiracy,
Led by whom, you may ask,

The same who think,
Climate change is a thing,
While forest fires are beyond control,
And the ice shelves are constantly crumbling.

Finland is Different

Trump won't say climate change,
Is to blame for the fires,
Ravaging California forests,
The flames getting higher,

He says it is 'poor forest management',
'Please remember the words,'
'I don't think science knows, actually',
It's not about if anybody's heard,

He may win the election anyway,
Even if people knew,
Summers are longer and winds are stronger,
Temperatures high, too.

Science is right,
It's not debatable,
Let's hope the hurricanes reach the west coast,
Because Trump won't manage this debacle.

The Point of No Return

I'm not a scientist,
I'm not a journalist,
If I were either, my headline would be,
The world is in duress,

Not due to the Corona pandemic,
Have you heard about that?
Nor would I be referencing Donald Trump,
For catastrophic actions he enacts,

I would be talking about Greenland's ice,
It's melting beyond hope,
Even if all carbon emissions stopped,
We'll soon all live in boats,

But it's not news,
Well, there are news reports,
If you scroll past the article about,
Britney Spears fighting her father in court.

Time for Global Pettiness

It all seems so hopeless,
Storms like we've never known,
Predicted by science of climate change,
As it is soon full blown,

Saying too things must change decades ago,
While they've just gotten worse,
There's too much money in oil baron hands,
Fighting activists with naught in their purse,

Then Trump giving green lights to oil pipe lines!
Dismantling no-brainers,
Either this is a prelude to our end,
Or spark for campaigners,

Who preach revolt,
'midst fires in the midwest,
With no harsh backlash to these wanton acts,
All will die but the most priv'leged at best.

When Scientists Speak

It couldn't be clearer,
The call from the U.N.,
By twenty-one hundred, all fossil fuels,
Sans CCS must end.

What are the reasons for not listening?
Really there is just one,
There're people and nations with things to lose,
That makes the world's being irrelevant.

Things like money, of course, that's a given,
But there are other things,
Holding on to pow'r, wait, that's money, too,
Wait, money's everything.

'Cause think 'bout it,
What sci'ntists have to lose,
By being so unified and ad'mant,
About such an inconvenient truth?

Climate Change

The world is now saying,
Climate change is a fact,
Midst the ever-croning argumenters,
That it's all a throw-back,

To days on this earth when climate changes,
Were natural events,
Which begs the question, no matter the cause,
How will we struggle with this as humans?

The IPCC's intergov'mental,
Meaning it is neutral,
So if science is the measure we trust,
Let us face the future,

Do what we can,
Or just let it happen,
Either way we're the same we've always been,
With no knowledge of the wisest, best plan.