20160427 (scare tactics)

For some drought. For some flood. For many war. Tell the truth about climate change.

“Isn’t it too late to talk about

Saving the world from severe

Climate change?” I asked David 

Beach of Green City/Blue

Lake, a local advocacy group

Newly affiliated with the Natural

History Museum. “Considering

The feedback loops that have 

Been set in motion, the likelihood

The Paris goals will not be met,

That fossil fuels will continue

To be used in even greater amounts

Now that the U. S. has become a

Leader in production through

Fracking, and driven the price of

Oil down to where it again

Competes with eco-power?”

I’m not sure Mr. Beach was 

Ready for an hour of hardballs

From a church group. I have 

Been assiduously following

The progress and setbacks in

The change to eco-power and

I wasn’t going to back down.

I didn’t want to attend another 

Church presentation about

Recycling, changing to more

Efficient lighting, and better

Insulation. More so when as I 

Stated, “Now is the time to 

Be in the streets with pitchforks 

And torches--no, they’re fossil

Fuels--demanding a complete

Cessation for power sources

That poison to our climate,

Threaten destruction of our farms,

And will soon be the leading

Cause of wars among nations

Who will face total submersion

By rising sea levels.” Actually the

War in Syria can be considered

The first such eco-war as it 

Has arisen from people driven

From formerly arable lands.

I knew several of the congregants

Thought I was again off on a 

Quixotic toot painting so grim

A picture. Tough for them. I’ve

Got a conscience and confidence

That my convictions are grounded

In facts. This was church—where

We speak the truth with courage,

Where we hear with hope, where

We bear our burdens as the family

Of God. No time to pussyfoot and

Fear we are dispiriting the masses

By sharing knowledge. One lady 

Raised the issue of the psychology

Of the problem. I took the opportunity

To compare it to an alcoholic’s. At 

First there is only the easy rewarding

Indulgence; the day of reckoning does

Not affect us because it is so far off

However threatening it may be. Then

When we have finally hit bottom

Where the rewards are no longer

Alluring and disaster looms in 

Full force ahead—only then

Might we find change possible. 

My contention is that future then 

(Now) is too late. It is moral

To scream in anguish when the

Skies are still blue, when the 

Waves at the shore are lapping 

Only at our ankles, not our hips,

And our fields get enough rain

To produce crops, and the locusts

Have not consumed all the seed.

c, J.S.Manista, 2016