Columbia River Thoughts

Update:

Oliver Milman has a great article in The Guardian "US schools accused of censoring climate crisis message in graduation speeches" which includes San Diego student Jessica Lopez of Health Sciences High and Middle College. It is the responsibility of US citizens to think globally. Now is a good time to repost the video Odyssey 2050, APE and Coldplay Team Up.

Recently I was driving down the Columbia River thinking about the June 4 United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Portland, Oregon hearing arguments regarding if the case Juliana v. USA (Children's Trust Climate Lawsuit) can proceed. I was on my way to give poetry readings at Lower Columbia College in Longview, WA, and Clatsop Community College in Astoria, OR, along with other poets.

It was interesting Julia Rosen at the Los Angeles Times reported June 3 in a story about the case “Plaintiffs’ alleged fundamental right to a ‘livable climate’ finds no basis in this nation’s history or tradition and is not even close to any other fundamental right recognized by the Supreme Court,' Justice Department lawyers wrote in a brief this year." That is how out of touch the Justice Department is with reality. Gratefully, the USA Military is more in touch than the Justice Department. NPR's radio broadcast at revealnews.org reported June 1 "climate change is threatening [far north] radars, imposing new risks to the national security of the United States. [. . . .] In March, [Ray] Mabus and 58 former high ranking military and national security leaders wrote a letter to President Trump. Admirals, Generals, Secretaries of State and Defense all signed the letter. It includes the line, 'Climate change is real, it's happening now, it's driven by humans and it is accelerating.' The group was responding to news that the President had created a new team to review military intelligence documents and questioned any instance where climate change was mentioned as a threat to national security."

I am grateful to Salal Magazine for publishing my poem "What the Salmon Said," for the colored pencil drawing DROWNING by Alex Rushmer, and for an audio performance of my poem by LCC Honors and Theater student / Samoan fisherman Tise Afuola.