So I have two bon mots for you today (and I'm not using that expression in the Francophone way meaning "clever remarks"; I'm using it the way my dad used to, meaning "little treats.") The first is a poem from DEAR HUMAN ON THE EDGE OF TIME: POEMS ON CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE UNITED STATES (Paloma Press 2023). I'm still getting to know all the poems and poets included in this anthology, where my poem "Prompt: Write a Climate Crisis Poem" appears. This one I'm sharing is not by me!
Sonnet for the Seasons: New England | Kate Cell
And what if we could stop it, after all,
could stop the change too swift for us to grasp,
listening instead to the maple's sweet dusk
drip in the metal bucket? The whipp-poor-will
may never summer here again. Recall
to us Lock's Pond, ice thick enough to rasp
through to snatch the drowsy trout, the chilled clasp
of hands raw in glazed wool gloves. How small,
how petty our accounting of the world
in all its flames. We have no means to measure
the beauties we have lost, burnt, broken--
our love shies away from our grief, we lie curled
in shame. How should we learn now what we treasure?
Wait. Only wait, for the windflower to open.
So who is this decidedly not petty Kate Cell, the poet? "Kate Cell is the Senior Climate Campaign Manager for the Climate & Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. In her role, she manages the UCS Climate Campaign, leading a multi-disciplinary team of scientists, policy analysts, legislative affairs staff, and outreach and communication experts working to achieve policies that can reduce global warming emissions and increase resilience to climate change impacts. ... She holds a BA in English and psychology from Macalester College and studied at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop."
I don't know about you, but all my hope is in the people, as Adrienne Rich wrote, "those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world." So my second treat for you on this third Friday of the month, Climate Friday here at mjlu, is a link and an excerpt from The Grist 50, annual list of climate and justice leaders to watch, published by Grist Magazine. Just look at who they are and what they're doing!!! We are not alone. Here's just one group of folks working hard on solutions in the Business & Technology arena.
Evette Ellis
Cody Finke
Aaron Fitzgerald
Rob Lawson-Shanks
Sandeep Nijhawan
Sanjana Paul
Joanne Rodriguez
Uyen Tran
Franziska Trautmann
New Orleans, LA
Seriously, friends, go meet all 50 of these "Fixers." You will get inspired. Is "enspaired" a word, like the opposite of "despaired"? That's what I mean.
I'm pretty sure we will all find enspairation too at the round-up today, served up today in a steaming cup by Robyn Hood Black. See you there!
Thanks for sharing this inspiration with us today! I love learning about the people who are using their energy and ideas to create solutions for our world
ReplyDeleteooooh. I copied that Adrienne Rich quote into my journal. Love it. And, wow! I've always believed that educators now are teaching young people for jobs that don't yet exist...and these people are proof! I'm heartened that a scientist is also a poet...that's so perfect and needed. This post gives me so much hope when usually, news or climate discussion brings me down. Thanks, Heidi!
ReplyDeleteThe last stanza of Kate Cell's poem shattered a few more pieces of my broken heart...then your partial list of Fixers inspired and enspaired me! I'm especially loving Joanne Rodriguez because my current read is the full version of ENTANGLED LIFE: HOW FUNGI MAKE OUR WORLDS (I already read the illustrated version).
ReplyDeleteGlad to read all you share, Heidi, and that first one about EV infrastructure, especially. The poem brings a memory to me, of learning from my grandfather long ago what he was already telling me that was gone.
ReplyDeleteYay! Heidi, I admire your focus on climate and in spite of all of the signs of doom, finding a way to offer encouragement and hope. Thank you for sharing profiles of these change makers.
ReplyDeleteHeidi, that is a beautiful sonnet full of imagery to spare. Enspaired I am, after reading your post. The few Business and Tech folk from the Grist 50 you share are amazing. I was stunned by the ideas they have and are pursuing. Yes, so much reason to be enspaired. Thanks for sharing. (Maybe you will expand on that new word in a definito?)
ReplyDeleteI needed this, Heidi! And I'm looking forward to a deep dive into these innovators.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the hope of young folks (okay, young is relative...young to me) rolling up their sleeves and working for change. And the hope of windflowers.
ReplyDeleteIt is so inspiring to me to see these faces! I know there are lots of smart young people fueling change. I love the way the poem you presented begins. "What if we could stop it?" Thank you Heidi for giving me a boost.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the publication and for sharing another gem from the collection, Heidi - and thanks for keeping climate news at the fore for everyone. Hats off to these folks devoting their intellect and skills and passions to solutions.
ReplyDeleteWow, that list of 50 is inspiring. Congrats on publication, Heidi! I liked the poem, too. Just recently I was relieved to see one of the frozen neighborhood ponds scraped off for pond hockey. That used to be a normal occurrence around here. Not so much any more.
ReplyDeleteAmazing blog!
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