Tag Archives: pollution

Irresponsible Coal Companies

By Robin Bates | Published: October 19, 2022

Coal miner owners have been leaving behind messes for others to clean up. Dickens reports something similar in “Hard Times.”

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Add the Climate to a Week of Disasters

By Robin Bates | Published: May 9, 2022

Mary Oliver’s poem on climate change mixes wonder and sadness.

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Climate Change, Fairies Fighting

By Robin Bates | Published: March 6, 2017

Some of the extreme climate events we are currently experiencing are described in “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” where they are the result of fairy infighting

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Oh the Ice Will Split and the Cities Be Hit

By Robin Bates | Published: March 31, 2016

As we receive news that the Antarctic ice sheet is less stable than we thought and that we could be facing catastrophic sea level rise in the next century, China Miéville’s nightmare vision of a polluted city in “Perdido Street Station” is a wake-up call.

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The Very Deep Is Rotting in Flint, Michigan

By Robin Bates | Published: February 1, 2016

The water crisis experienced by the residents of Flint, Michigan is described in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Now they just need a governor who, like the mariner, is genuinely penitent.

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Climate Hope Shines in Dark Times

By Robin Bates | Published: December 12, 2015

Madeleine L’Engle’s 1971 Advent poem anticipates the gloom we feel today about climate change. Yesterday’s international accord, however–miraculously signed by 195 countries–gives us some glimmer of Christmas hope.

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Mother Goose’s Ecological Warnings

By Robin Bates | Published: April 23, 2014

Scott Bates’ variation of familiar Mother Goose rhymes warn us of environmental devastation.

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