With all of the natural world standing by,
waiting for we dullards to discover
waiting for we dullards to discover
wind, solar, ocean and geothermal energy,
present in abundance
to power and cool the earth,
to power and cool the earth,
someone has had the bright idea
to give the ocean antacid
to slow climate change by helping it
take in more C02 and reduce acidity -
sort of like giving the sea a TUMS?
The "studies" will take five years, so the ocean
will have heartburn until then -
along with all of us.
You can't make this stuff up.
They plan to thin what forests remain after
all the burning, so fewer will burn next year.
Sort of like cutting off one's leg, so we don't break it.
(Or cutting off one's air,
'cause we don't need it.)
(Or cutting off one's air,
'cause we don't need it.)
They increase the budget for firefighting for next year,
resigned that a hotter world is inevitable;
woe is me, nothing can be done.
In Canada, Elizabeth May of the Green party
is the lone voice crying in the wilderness.
No other dare utter the fatal words: reduce emissions.
No other speaks of stopping subsidies
to rich corporations,
to rich corporations,
or asking them to pay their share, and clean up
lands they have destroyed.
We are not as far from kings and serfs
as we might like to think.
We live in growing awareness
and ever-decreasing hope.
and ever-decreasing hope.
They are feasting royally in the castle;
outside its walls,
outside its walls,
we hunger, we thirst, we rave, we burn.
Add AI to the mix and we are in danger
of being taken over by machines
who can out-think and out-pace
our bemused and lumbering gait.
If humanity survives what is to come,
future scientists will look back at us, agog.
"They had all the science, all the information,
yet they carried on a path the earth could not sustain."
Shaking their heads, as we do about the fiddling
while Rome burned. Exactly like that.
It will be a while before that happens, though.
First the cataclysm, and whatever remains.
Apartment buildings will be the morrow's caves,
covered in dusty, crackly ivy. Skinny dogs will skulk
across the barren wastelands.
The green world will have
The green world will have
gone all brown and brittle.
We will have learned the hard way
We will have learned the hard way
that water is more necessary than oil,
the whole while it is
going going gone.
for Desperate Poets: a poetry slam addressing AI and other things that keep us awake at night.
One thing machines--and short-sighted greedy power brokers--do not have, is soul. As the yarbirds once sang, you, Sherry, have a heart full of soul.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad view of the future of humanity. I pray it won't be so; but AI is really a scary unknown. Uncharted territory. Frightening!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly does look like this is the end some days. Perhaps it is that the old must die before the new can be born. Then again, every day now there are signs that new/ancient ways of living lightly on the Earth are speaking with increasing power and clarity. Suzanne - Mapping Uncertainty
ReplyDeleteSuzanne, Mother Nature will teach us to go back to the old ways of living on the earth, even if it takes all of these climactic events to make us learn.
ReplyDeleteI think it is headed to that absolute bleakness you've described so well. In that environment, the machines will thrive. It does feel like a really bad apocalypse movie unfolding in real time.
ReplyDelete"sort of like giving the sea a TUMS?" Perfect image.
ReplyDeleteFor every tool an unforseen consequence: even our fixes nix something. Oceans burping scented Tums, become ravenous for more carbon. Sigh ... I'm not sure AI's "solution" for climate change would be to heal the earth. Maybe get rid of problematic humans, or get rid of problematic Mother earth. I've heard that one response to AI-dominated life is that humans will embrace their animal side, to all of the world's great fortune. Who knows. Keeps me up at night, too.
ReplyDeleteA darker than usual view from the edge Sherry. I feel your pain and I am grateful for the human heart that beats within me that allows me to. As always a soul filled proposition. May you always sing these beautiful laments.
ReplyDeleteThe leaders and drivers are such a pathetic and mindless bunch. Sadly I've not much faith in the masses. I do have faith in the earth though... and it will restore balance, one way or another. I hope you're doing okay with the fires Sherry. Fortunately, here in Nova Scotia, we've finally managed to get them under control (for now). FYI, I worked on Elizabeth's campaign when she was here.
ReplyDeleteChris, am glad your fires are under control, have been thinking of you. I love Elizabeth. She is the voice of reason - and urgency. Your book, by the way, is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteVisions of the future are grim at best, yet I can't help but think of all the hearts that strive for life against all odds, of all of us like you Sherry, who love the green and all living things and try to protect them. I can only hope that will count for something in a wicked world gone mad.
ReplyDelete"Our bemused and lumbering gait"--DEVO had it right, we're de-evolving. I share Hedgewitch's hope; it's all we seem to have.
ReplyDeleteHave been reading The 6th Extinction by Kolbert. Sobering, the world we are leaving to our children ~
ReplyDeleteIf we can't separate "Green" from the Greedhead globalist faction, this vision might come true. I hope not.
ReplyDelete