Imagine, by 2053

 

I'm grateful Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington accepted my Clay Salmon Poem in their art collection.  I recently donated other pieces to Washington State University, Vancouver Library, and Columbia Basin Fish & Wildlife Library, a program of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. 

Imagine, by 2053

if IPCC reports

at current rates

are true,

 

and if our high

carbon emissions

continue,

 

no police,

banks,

Internet,

 

electricity,

gas stations,

shopping centers,

 

schools,

hospitals,

maintained roads,

 

water faucets,

toilets,

iPhones,

 

ammunition,

propane,

kerosene.

 

Trains, planes, cars

will be converted

to shelters.

 

911 emergency call,

Jamie Dimon,

Bill Gates,

 

President of

United States

of America

 

less relevant

than diseased

mosquitoes

 

or food

and water.

People huddle,

 

tell stories

to their children

of Santa Claus,

 

Easter Bunny,

snowy mountains,

vast rivers,

 

aisles of low-cost

fruits

and vegetables,

 

seafood, meats,

breads, honey,

items from everywhere,

 

local farmers’ markets

selling a

Nature buffet.

 

Worshipped Dragon

that nearly killed

everyone on Earth.

My favorite climate article I recently read is Andrew Y. Glikson's April 11, 2022 "Global Warming and the Fermi Paradox" published in LA Progressive. I must add the troubling "tense interaction between a British meteorologist and anchor over the deadly UK heat wave" as reported by cnn.com, which was noted like a real-life scene of the film Don't Look Up. The full exchange is even more problematic.

Severe fires and droughts have been reported in many areas, and July 2022 flooding in Kentucky as well as recent floods in China, Japan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, South Korea, The Philippines, Australia, South Africa, Houston, Detroit, St. Louis, Yellowstone National Park, and Death Valley. 

August 1, 2022, Damian Carrington, Environment Editor at The Guardian, reported in his article, "Climate endgame: risk of human extinction ‘dangerously underexplored'," "The current trend of greenhouse gas emissions would cause a rise of 2.1-3.9C by 2100. But if existing pledges of action are fully implemented, the range would be 1.9-3C. Achieving all long-term targets set to date would mean 1.7-2.6C of warming." He quoted scientists recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences who he said claimed "Even these optimistic assumptions lead to dangerous Earth system trajectories.” Carrington added, "Temperatures more than 2C above pre-industrial levels had not been sustained on Earth for more than 2.6m years, they said, far before the rise of human civilisation, which had risen in a 'narrow climatic envelope' over the past 10,000 years." November 13, 2021 in my post "COP26 Report from Tim Crosland, Extinction Rebellion spokesperson and Director of Plan B.Earth," Crosland responded to Sky News reporter Adam Boulton, "What about taking everyone along from the Marshall Islands, and from Tuvalu, countries that are going to disappear if that 1.5 limit is exceeded? People in Bangladesh. Whole regions of the world are going to be uninhabitable. How are those people feeling right now when they see it ['emissions rising by 13.7 % by 2030' in the deal] going in the opposite direction [of scientific report to limit warming to 1.5 C by 'reducing carbon emissions 45% by 2030'] ? And how would you be feeling?"