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Tuesday, October 17, 2023

D IS FOR DISPLACED

 


This photo of a bear at a smoking landfill was taken
by Canadian photographer Troy Moth, who said it is
the most heartbreaking photo he has ever taken.

D is for displaced: bears and wolves
flushed out of clearcut forests, skirting
the edge of town, their lives in peril;

elephants whose habitats have been
encroached upon, numbers of their herds
killed for their tusks; the snow leopard,
once the most elusive of the wild,
now so many humans high in the mountains
that his survival is at risk.

D is for Devastation: the animals of climate change,
but the humans too, all climate refugees
on the move in search of a safe place to be
they cannot find. Climate refugees might reach
1.2 billion by 2050.* What animals will survive
by then, we cannot know.

The mountain gorilla, the polar bear, the green
sea turtle, all are struggling as their numbers
are decreasing. D is for Destruction of their habitat.

D is for death, and downfall, 
caused by corporate greed and human need.
It is also for Destiny: can we envision
a world where we all
are freed?

I'm afraid I have a Dismal answer  to that question. For Rajani's climate change series.

* source: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/climate-migrants-might-reach-one-billion-2050

2 comments:

  1. That number is horrifying... 1.2 billion climate refugees... so many of them already vulnerable - such an unimaginable situation. Thanks for highlighting that, Sherry.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So sad for all of the displaced animals and humans. That picture is indeed heartbreaking.

    ReplyDelete

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