Part 1 End/ beginning
End /Beginning feat.Kiribati choir
As the sun goes down on the final day,
Humanity, the most successful, the most creative
And the most resourceful architect
Of its own destruction in the universe,
Has become extinct.
Now the planet can recover.
.
When we are all gone
When we are all gone, all will still be.
The unknowing sky will peer down on the earth.
No one will lie upon the beach and look in awe.
When we are all gone, all will still be.
The unthinking sky will peer down on the earth.
No one will lie upon the beach and look in awe.
Just as beautiful, nothing has changed
But now unconscious, unthinking and unknowing,
The universe will be, but it will not know-
The words will not exist to set the scene.
When I die, I will continue to be.
I will just be something else.
Bury my body in the soil.
In time, a worm will weave its way
Through my fibre and flesh.
A route will be cleared
And a seed will push a shoot through that route
And will draw nutrients from me,
And a leaf will open and draw light from the sun
And a flower will open
And a bee will pollinate the flower
And take me on a journey to who knows where.
I may not know that I continue to be,
But I will continue to be.
The Sixth Mass Extinction
Another day-
The tide is higher
The land is narrower
The frigate bird is lonelier
The flag is lower
The voice is quieter
The people are fewer
The time is nearer
This is our epitaph, our stone-cold white epigraph.
Humanity, ingenious, short sighted and perilous,
Achieved in three hundred years
What earth does in a million years-
The sixth mass extinction- too late for salvation.
This is our legacy.
Our brief worldly tenancy on earth is concluded,
Our planet denuded.
We knew but we did not care;
Too selfish to take our share.
God given dominion- no chance of redemption.
This is our requiem-humanity barbarian.
Children of Darwin, there has been no greater sin.
Survival of the greedy, no thought for the needy.
Our term nears completion- no time for restoration.
The final day-
The tide is over
The land is no more
The frigate bird is nowhere
The flag is folded
The voice is silent
The people are gone
The time is past
Our House is on fire (Speech by Greta Thunberg at Davos 2019)
Our house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire.
According to the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change], we are less than 12 years away from not being able to undo our mistakes.
At places like Davos, people like to tell success stories. But their financial success has come with an unthinkable price tag. And on climate change, we have to acknowledge we have failed. All political movements in their present form have done so, and the media has failed to create broad public awareness.
But Homo sapiens have not yet failed.
Yes, we are failing, but there is still time to turn everything around. We can still fix this. We still have everything in our own hands. Now is the time to speak clearly.
Solving the climate crisis is the greatest and most complex challenge that Homo sapiens have ever faced. The main solution, however, is so simple that even a small child can understand it. We have to stop our emissions of greenhouse gases.
And either we do that or we don’t.
You say nothing in life is black or white. But that is a lie. A very dangerous lie. Either we prevent 1.5 degree [Celsius] of warming or we don’t. Either we avoid setting off that irreversible chain reaction beyond human control or we don’t. Either we choose to go on as a civilisation or we don’t. That is as black or white as it gets.
We must change almost everything in our current societies. The bigger your carbon footprint is, the bigger your moral duty. The bigger your platform, the bigger your responsibility.
Adults keep saying: “We owe it to the young people to give them hope.” But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.
I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house is on fire.
Because it is.
Do or do not
Ten years is not a long time to reverse 300 years of destruction. It’s the passing of a child’s innocence. It seems we have entered the teenage years, torn between cynicism and selfishness, and optimism and hope. It takes the innocence of childhood, the ambition of childhood, the wisdom of childhood, the commitment of childhood. We either do or we do not. But they demonise her, then they trivialise her work and her words. But she is not the point- the planet is the point.
Nature my son feat.Kiribati choir
How have you been today, nature my son?
How have you been today, my darling one?
I am dying, my dear mother,
Come make my bed soon.
I’m poisoned to my heart, come make my bed soon.
Who has done this to you?
Humankind has done this mother,
Why did they let you die?
They were stewards of this earth,
And they poisoned, stole and ruined.
Where are you suffering?
In every river, every ocean…
in every valley, every mountain.
What is your cure today?
The time for cure is passing.
Till humans reap the poison.
Come make their bed soon.
Part 2 Nature
We can’t cancel spring
It’s a terrible new dawn. It’s the rich world’s biggest ache.
The thought that we have lost control,
It’s too much for us to take.
But all around me now the rooks are working hard.
The rooks all start to call.
And all around me now the rooks are making nests-
Because we can’t cancel spring.
And the word upon the wires
Is that we should hunker down.
And the word upon the street- “It’s the end of everything.”
But all around me now the sun gets higher still;
Embraces with its warmth.
And all around me now the ice is cracking clear-
Because we can’t cancel spring.
I’ve stopped reading all the news.
The tragic stories escalate.
I pray my family is safe; I hope for good news to relate.
But all around me now Mother Nature rules.
All life is blooming forth.
And all around me now the world reveals her joy,
Because we can’t cancel spring.
And all around me now
The world will change its slant, indifferent to our needs.
We are so feeble, we humanity, who cannot cancel spring.
Pipistrelle
Dusk. Liverpool Cathedral Quarry.
With the downcast, the outcast and the ecologist.
God’s crepuscular creatures…And the bats.
This is your world, not mine.
An hour goes by… no sign. Where are you?
Then … a click, a graph, a digital imprint.
You are here but never heard.
Then…A flit, a dart, a dive, a glimpse.
You are here but barely seen.
Our eyes are hardly enough; our ears are mere ornaments.
You live in a world we do not understand,
Apart from the downcast, the outcast and the ecologist.
Robin
While I was lying in my slumber
A robin came to her bird feeder.
She looked around, unsure at first,
If any cat might do its worst.
And then she hopped onto the plinth
And feasted on the nuts and grains.
She peeped a while to warn away
Any who might stake a claim.
Then carried on, her chest puffed out
And when she’d done, she flew about
And told the world about her glee
And shone a touch of it on me.
So many years on mother earth,
I’ve never stopped to watch a bird
Go about its daily chores.
It’s weighty matters that make us bores.
In tribute to the humble plankton
Those towering trees get all the publicity,
But our tiny friend does not know how important it is too.
So I’m writing these few words in praise of-
I’m raising a glass to-
DRUM ROLL MAESTRO PLEASE!
The humble plankton!
YES! -Homo sapiens –
Every other breath we take, the humble plankton makes.
Word Painters
The adder emerges and explores and hides and retreats
And flees and escapes and stretches and basks
And dances and entwines –gives meaning to the words.
The beaver chews and unearths and wrestles and rudders
And stockpiles and caches and dams and hollows
And plays and grooms- gives meaning to the words.
The otter lies and holds hands and dives and burrows
And curves and slides and moors in the kelp
And whistles and squeaks –gives meaning to the words.
The Kingfisher perches and watches and hovers
And plunges and grabs and transports and feeds and prepares
And cares then evicts-gives meaning to the words.
You are the adder, the beaver, the otter, the kingfisher-
And you are so much more.
Swift
Autumn-I’ll miss you when you leave.
Forked tail – I know that you must leave.
Go and see the world.
You can fledge, you can fledge here, sickle wing,
Then leave here.
Return here when winter is a distant memory.
Winter-the skies empty and cold.
Dormant- as our tired year turns old.
7000 miles (you fly)- never land.
Storm precursor – Sub Saharan dweller.
Return here when winter is a distant memory.
Springtime-I watch the southern sky.
Waiting, expectant Caistor sky.
Then, black silhouette; tiny fork.
Same site each year – same mate each year.
Returned here now winter is a distant memory.
Summer–I look beyond the sun,
In wonder at your screaming party fun.
Spiral to the skies.
Down again, fall half sleeper, skilful raindrop catcher.
Time draws near.
Part 3 Confutatis
Confutatis
Dies irae, dies illa, solvet saeclum in favilla,
Mors slopebit et natora cum resurget creatura,
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus,,
Quem patronum togaturus,
Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis,
Voca me, voca me, voca me cum benedictis.
Day of wrath,
That day will dissolve the earth in ashes.
Death and Nature shall be astonished
When all creation rises again.
What then shall I say, wretch that I am?
Fake news The four pests- Ren ding sheng tian- man must conquer nature
In 1958 Chairman Mao Zedong launched the four pests campaign. Under the Great Leap Forward, Mao aimed to subjugate nature to promote industrialisation. Previously, under Daoism, Chinese culture had been based on respect for nature. One of the pests to be eradicated (the others were mosquito, fly and rat) was the tree sparrow. The tree sparrow was a threat because it raided the grain harvests, and threatened starvation on the Chinese people, or so it was thought.
The nation was mobilised to kill these birds. Children down to 5 years of age would go on school outings to destroy nests, use pea shooters to kill birds, poison them, bang pots and pans so they could not roost, then they would fall to the floor from exhaustion. Prizes and money were given to communities and people that killed the most sparrows. It is estimated that up to a billion sparrows were killed.
The result- the Great Famine. As a result of the absence of sparrows, insects, especially locusts, increased in numbers and destroyed the crops. As a result, at least 20 million people starved to death- maybe many more.
In the meantime, Tso- hsin Cheng, a leading ornithologist, had carried out tests on tree sparrows to established what their diet was. He found that 3/4 quarters of their diet was insects, with a small proportion being grain.
He told the Chinese leadership this but was denounced as a reactionary, spent six months cleaning toilets and living in solitary confinement in a cow shed, and was declared a criminal for opposing Mao.
When they finally accepted they had made a mistake, the Chinese leadership imported 250,000 tree from Russia to replenish the population.
Tso- Hsin Cheng is now acknowledged as the founder of modern ornithology.
Nowadays it’s OK to condemn those
Who rationalise, research and observe,
Who reason, empiricise and conclude.
Just call them liars, fakers, elitist scare-mongerers.
Shout loud enough if your megaphone is big enough,
If your brass neck is thick enough.
Half of us will condemn.
The other half will shrug in resignation.
We are Arctic and Antarctic.
We will live on the Antarctic plains
And rebuild this beautiful world.
You can drown in the warm waters of the Arctic.
Holding back the river
So much rock, so much stone,
Give meaning to our poverty.
So much toil, skin and bone,
For a promise of eternity.
We never stop to think
If we’re holding back the river.
The tide goes out and the tide comes in
We go to sleep and we wake again
The flower opens and the flower folds
So much rock, so much stone,
Give meaning to philosophy.
So much death, skin and bone,
Give meaning to their piracy.
We never stop to think
If we’re holding back the river.
The chrysalis becomes a butterfly
The new queen chosen and the old queen dies
The flower opens and the flower folds
So much rock, so much stone,
Detached us from our sovereignty.
Such displacement, skin and bone,
Enslaved us in our infancy.
The season comes and the season goes
The body races and the body slows
The flower opens and the flower folds
The universe inexorably
Moves away from balance
And toward balance
Chaos throws it out
Order pulls it back
If we tamper with nature
We only cause chaos
Eventually, in the fullness of time
Order will put it back
But long after we have endured the storm
Money Emergency Bushfire Warning Broadcast on 3NE 1566AM Victoria Australia 4-1-20
This emergency warning is being issued for Angler’s Rest …
Bush fire activity has dramatically increased to the north-west of Angler’s Rest. The bush fire is heading towards Omeo, Angler’s Rest, Dinner Plain and Cobungra. The fire is currently impacting the Omeo township. This fire is threatening homes and lives. Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging locally destructive winds in Dargo, Omeo and surrounding communities on Saturday afternoon. Be aware of very dangerous and unpredictable road conditions. You should move indoors to stay safe unless you need to evacuate because of the fire. Trees are likely to fall on buildings and across roads. You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive. The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately. It is too late to leave. Protect yourself by wearing long sleeves and trousers made from pure cotton or wool. Wear leather boots. Bring your pets inside. Close all the exterior doors, windows and vents and turn off cooling systems. You must take shelter before the fire arrives. The extreme heat is likely to kill you well before the flames reach you. Shelter in a room that has 2 exits such as a door or window including one directly to the outside. It is important to be able to see outside so you know what is happening with the fire. If your home catches on fire and the conditions inside become unbearable, you need to get out and go to an area that has already been burnt. It may still be too hot to remain outside, so you’ll need to seek shelter in another structure or last resort option. Get into a large body of water like a dam, lake, river, the ocean or inground pool. Try to protect yourself from the fire’s heat.
Thank you to the Gods of money
Who leant us money to make sugary drinks
In a thankless factory,
Who bought us off our land
Where we once took water from the well
To feed our crops and give us life,
Who built a factory on our land
And gave us work so we could buy…
A carbonated drink from them.
Thank you to the Gods of money
Who towed an ice-berg from Antarctica
And parked it off our shore
And charged us for the water.
Playground Politics
I will if you will. -I won’t if you won’t.
What’s the point if you don’t?
So I will if you will. But you have to promise first.
If you promise first, I’ll promise second.
One pebble
Is anybody out there angry?
Is anybody out there confused?
Is anybody out there scared?
100,000 people turned out last night.
A peaceful protest -a beautiful sight.
One idiot broke a window in Oxford Street.
Many were arrested for being enemies of the state.
The papers ran the story, “The enemies within!”
But it was just one pebble
In an overwhelming sea of goodness.
Part 4 Kiribati End /Beginning
Kiribati ( pronounced Kiribas)
Low tide ; Kiribati-
Plant the mangroves- build the walls.
Low tide- Kiribati –
Roll the rock back up the hill.
Low tide- Watch the frigate bird
Point the way before the storm.
One day we’ll follow her- we know it’s fate,
To leave our land and not return.
High tide Kiribati; –
The angry sea will take us all.
High tide- Kiribati –
Remove the sea salt from the well.
High tide- watch the frigate bird
point the way before the storm.
One day we’ll follow her- we know it’s fate,
To leave our land and not return.
Colony on Mars IOM Council Transcript Anote Tong-President Kiribati
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
For low lying atoll island nations like my country, climate change is an issue of survival with the very real possibility of our nation disappearing under the ocean within the century. What I want to share with you is that even before that happens, we are already experiencing extreme high tides and more severe storms on an unprecedented magnitude. Damage to homes and severe inundation of the coastline and consequent damage to food crops and portable water are now becoming more frequent events.
Based on these experiences, migration in the context of my people’s future has therefore taken on a whole new meaning- a whole new dimension. Relocation must therefore be part of our strategy for adaption and for us, this involves the preparation of our people for such a possibility.
We have, with the assistance of our development partners, embarked on an intensive training program to upskill our people to internationally recognized qualifications. We continue to work with our more developed neighbours, in particular Australia and New Zealand, through temporary and permanent labour mobility schemes such as, the seasonal workers scheme and the more permanent New Zealand Pacific Access Category Migration Scheme and most recently the Northern Australia white paper for microstates pilot scheme. We believe that these programs offer mutual benefits for all parties involved, and may provide suitable models that could be replicated elsewhere and may well be worthy of further study and consideration by IOM.
Excellencies ladies and gentlemen. As governments and as leaders it is our duty, it is our moral obligation to ensure, that the future of our people, our children, our grandchildren and their children, is safe and secure.
The poor will die first-the rich will die last.
The poor will die first crying,
“What have you done!”
The rich will die last crying,
“What have we done!”
And the super-rich will blast off
To become the first human colony on Mars,
And congratulate homo sapiens For its ingenuity in the face of adversity.
Close your eyes
Close your eyes.
I’ll sing, you drift and dream and go to sleep.
May your dreams be happy dreams
And may you slumber deep.
I’ll lay beside you till you sleep.
Do not fear the monsters.
They do not exist at all.
I’ll protect you from the night
And as the darkness calls,
I’ll lay beside you till you sleep.
Banaba – speech by Katerina Teaiwa
So my grandfather is Banaban and his father and his mother were all Banaban.
I was lucky enough in 1997 to make a trip to Banaba. It’s a very difficult place to get to, in contrast to the hundreds of ships that used to pass through between 1900 and 1980 when phosphate mining was happening.
It was like looking at a post-apocalyptic zone, so basically the landscape of Banaba is this field of really stark, grey pinnacles, kind of poking out of the earth.
What happened was the mining removed the soil from in between the pinnacles. That was the valuable, phosphate fertiliser and that was removed and shipped off to Australia and New Zealand to be converted into super phosphate for agriculture, for farming.
So the landscape looks like people have taken bites out of it.
That’s what really hit me about it was the very materiality of the impacts of phosphate mining on a landscape, a landscape that for Banabans had been a home, had been a source of livelihood. a source of culture, a source of inspiration for a whole range of cultural practices, dances, songs, chants and a source of foods obviously.
It took probably millions of years for that island to grow geologically. It took thousands of years for Banabans to figure out how to survive on that fairly dry, rock island in the middle of the Pacific and then once the phosphate mining company arrived it took just 80 years to destroy the landscape of Banaba.
Why were we given dominion?
We can read from books, learn from past mistakes
And change our ways, say, “Never again!”
We can think ahead, see through the mist,
Know this earth must be our friend.
Why are we better than animals?
We can look outside, stand in others’ shoes;
See cruelty, say, “Not in my name.”
We can change our nature, shape our path,
Know this earth is ours to mend.
Why can we trust in technology?
We can build machines to conquer space
When this planet’s done say, “This is the way.”
We can use our genius, fix a course
Know this earth is not the end.
There is still time
There is still time! Thanks to the Caistor Pop Up Choir
Feat. the session musicians from the Cross Keys Pub – N. Ireland
Farewell humanity you won’t be missed
The world would be a better place
If it wasn’t for the human race.
The world would be a better place by far.
No overpopulation and no deforestation.
No atmospheric pollution
And no oceanic degradation.
Yes- the world would settle down quite nicely. TA!
