In “Gift of Gravity,” Wendell Berry finds beauty even in ravaged landscapes. But is there a limit to how much of a devastated landscape he could learn to love?
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Tag Archives: climate change
Finding Beauty in Ravaged Landscapes
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Gift of Gravity", global warming, Wendell Berry Comments closed
Our Children Will Reproach Us
If we fail to take adequate measures to stave off catastrophic climate change, our children and grandchildren will see sea levels rise by three meters by the century’s end. Lucille Clifton has a poem that describes how they would regard us.
Oh the Ice Will Split and the Cities Be Hit
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.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged China Miéville, hydrocarbons, Perdido Street Station, pollution Comments closed
Literature and Climate Change
Thoughts about the genre label “cli-fi” and an annotated list of past posts about literature and climate change.
Introducing a New Genre: Cli-Fi
Weather disappeared largely from literature when it was seen unrealted to the actions of humans. With climate change now upon us, however, a new literary genre has arisen.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged extreme weather, global warming, John Milton, Lost Children, Mary Oliver, Pjlds; Comments closed
Donne’s Warning about Climate Change
Looking back over the past year, I repost an essay on John Donne’s “Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” and climate change denial. Given that 2015 has been the warmest year on record and that “the weather outside is frightful,” Donne’s comments about “moving of th’ earth” are only too relevant.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Good Morrow, "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", extreme weather, global warming, John Donne Comments closed
A Season for Miraculous Breakthroughs
In this Scott Bates poem about Operation Breakthrough, the 1988 American-Soviet rescue operation that liberated three ice-bound gray whales, the possibility for international cooperation to save the planet is imagined. Were he still alive today, my father would be excited by the 2015 Paris climate accord.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Great Whale Rap", Environment, Operation Breakthrough, Paris climate accord, Scott Bates, Whales Comments closed