This playful Scott Bates environmental poem looks at the nativity story and observes that we are in desperate need of a repetition.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Tag Archives: climate change
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Nativity
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christmas, Environmental destruction, Scott Bates, syncretism Comments closed
Winter’s Assyrian Invasion
Monday When the polar vortex descended on the United States last week, the opening lines from Lord Byron’s “The Destruction of Sennacherib” came to mind. While I’d memorized the stanza in high school to learn anapestic meter (short-short-long), it captures the emotional force of extreme weather events. (Another Byron poem that does so is “Darkness”) […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Destruction of Senacherib", extreme weather events, Lord Byron, polar vortex Comments closed
Byron’s Climate Change Nightmare
Wednesday News about climate change grows grimmer by the month, with the latest governmental reports predicting that extreme weather events will kill thousands while devastating national economies. I therefore share today a 19th century climate change poem although, in this instance, the climate grows colder rather than warmer. In 1816 the world experienced “the year without […]
We Have Chance the Gardener as Prez!
Trump’s recent remarks about California forest management indicate that he really is Kosinski’s Chance the Gardener.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged California wildfires, Donald Trump, Jerzy Kosinski Comments closed
Befouling America’s Future
MacDonald’s “Princess and Curdie” has an apocalyptic image that captures how Trump is fouling America’s future.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged corruption, George MacDonald, Princess and Curdie, Trump administration Comments closed
Climate Change, a Witch’s Curse
Leslie Marmon Silko has an account of ecological disaster in her novel “Ceremony” (also “Almanac of the Dead” that is only too relevant.
Elemental Joy in California’s Wildfires?
Friday Just as warming waters are causing bigger and more frequent hurricanes, so climate change is contributing to the intensity of California’s wildfires. The fires this year so far have burned 98,000 acres and killed six people, who can be added to the 44 who died last year. An essay I wrote last October remains […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Brother Fire", California wildfires, Carr Fire, extreme weather events, Louis MacNeice Comments closed
Attacked Journalists Should Read Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen’s protagonist in “Enemy of the People” offers a model for journalists under attack by Trump.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Enemy of the People, Heinrik Ibsen, Journalism, scientists, Trumps attacks on the media Comments closed