I am not as much of an environmentalist as I could be. I’m vaguely aware of my personal consumption habits in terms of BTU usage, also of my need to leave a smaller environmental footprint. I am still disappointed, however, after taking their short inventory and found that if everyone consumed as I do, it would take 2.9 planets like ours to produce the BTU’s to sustain us all. That fact means that I am a resource glutton, and I properly deserve to be fined or at least monitored for being wasteful of Nature’s resources. The next conclusion is also obvious: At some future date we could all be monitored with sensors and compelled to consume less. Otherwise, we might find that we are not only doomed, we will die in our own effluence. Those who would complain and argue that they deserve to consume far more than the rest of us might be shackled or compelled to pay far more for their overconsumption. In fact, they would likely deserve to be stripped of all their wealth or imprisoned for their failure to comply.
That outcome is Karma speaking. It is Justice speaking, a warning that is deserving of words that try to constrain us before we commit global suicide. In a light-hearted way, of course.
Global Footprinting
Stop look listen before you start to tweet
Use your brain
Get off your train
And start to use your feet.
A lot smarter.
Walk softly
Know where you are going
Know what you’re destroying
We’re all watching you.
The birds
The bees
The wind
The trees
They've all got a stake in this place.
Waste not
Want not
Take a little not a lot
It’s got to go a long long way
So give a hoot
And don’t pollute
We’ve got a little more to say.
The world belongs to everyone
But you’ve gotta earn it
Please don’t burn it
It’s put here for you and me.
Check that footprint one more time
Make it smaller
That’s sublime
The best things are no myth
Do not start a bonfire with
The best things in life are free
But only if...
We care.
My vice president at the University complained when we were attempting to build or renovate apartments for students. He said, "They've got rising expectations." In other words, they wanted more space and stuff in their campus living experience. And there was one vice president who claimed that when he went to school there he stayed in a closet. Who do you think has a smaller footprint? Worldwide, the Internet is causing everyone to have "higher expectations."
So your poem is very apropos and points out the problem very well. The way that Robert Heilbrenner described it was that humanity was on a train that was headed for a cliff. All of us poets need to shout out the problem before it is too late.
Last week I walked around our neighborhood with a trash can, and picked up trash. (I do this periodically) It's amazing, and sometimes disgusting, what I pick up. I hate to say it, but people in general are lazy slobs. I try to do what I can.
Share
Print
Save
Follow
So your poem is very apropos and points out the problem very well. The way that Robert Heilbrenner described it was that humanity was on a train that was headed for a cliff. All of us poets need to shout out the problem before it is too late.
Ron
Love ya!
Jane