A Cosmic Shrug – a poem

Posted on by Opher

A Cosmic Shrug

 

As our green Earth

Delights in life’s birth

Basking in perpetual sun

With warmth and light for everyone

Might finally become aware

Of the parasite lurking there

And with a shrug of lava and ash

Rids itself of this foul rash.

 

Opher 25.8.2018

 

 

If only the planet was alive and conscious of the life that it had given birth to.

If only it became aware of the mess that we humans are making of the world and decided to take action.

If only………..

14 thoughts on “A Cosmic Shrug – a poem”

  1. I’m not sure the planet is unaware of the mess we’ve made. Our science has uncovered only a small fraction of what there is to know about this planet. The North American Indigenous Peoples believed that everything (animate and inanimate) had a spirit that was to be addressed and respected. I’m inclined to think they were far closer to the truth about how this old world works than the European invaders and their progeny. So, I see the ever-increasing natural disasters worldwide as the planet pushing back in acts of self-preservation. Not a shrug.

    1. You were going well until you mentioned the Indian spiritual stuff. I’ll leave that to the Mystic Meg’s and the crystal healing stones and scented candle sellers.

      Yet we, as in us living now, have only really seen just one real natural disasters, the tsunami in 2004.
      We have never had an Ice Age. We have not been hit by an Asteroid, at least large enough to cause us any grief. We have never had global flooding.
      I must admit that I did used to believe unthinkingly all the stuff they used to tell us on the TV. Although some of it was true such as we had to start phasing out harmful to the atmosphere CFC gasses and stop burning coal.
      I can’t speak for Asia, but coal burning has dramatically decreased in Europe these last fifty years.
      What we do have are wild fires – very normal activity
      Tsunamis – again very normal activity created by sliding tectonic plates or under-sea volcanos
      Volcanic eruptions – also very normal activity
      Many people think there’s a “global warming” crisis when they see an ice berg collapse on the TV. What the TV people never tell is when exactly that collapse was, because when the North pole melts, the South pole freezes and vice versa. This also explains why these “experts” dispensed with the “global warming” term and opted for the rather more all encompassing “climate change”, which frankly, could mean anything. This year in UK we had one of the most seasonally representative weather cycles in early Summer for some years. We had temperatures and periods without rain exactly as we had in the 1970’s. Although August wasn’t very good with lower than average temperatures. Can’t have it all I suppose and I found myself looking for a sweater to wear one evening it was that chilly.
      In the last few years more sea vessels have had to be rescued by ice cutting ships ever since records began. The speed with which these vessels find themselves being frozen in is remarkable. This sort of makes a mockery of claims of global warming.
      We must also be most wary of the motives of many of these scientific research companies that have all sprung out from nowhere claiming expertise on all manner of the earth’s weather patterns and behaviours.
      Some of their reports have been downright suspect and have reflected upon conditions that do not actually exist.
      Natural disasters? Considering the number of active volcanos that we have dotted around the world it’s all very quiet so can’t quite see what all the panic is about.

      2. Steve – I see you underestimate the magnitude of climate change. The data on heating of the planet, the thinning of ice, the bleaching of reefs, the unnatural temperatures, flooding, droughts and severe weather patterns. You downgrade hurricanes and storms that have brought exceptional temperatures and downpours as if these were all just natural. I think you are confusing weather and climate. There is most definitely global warming and it is creating havoc already.As a biologist I see it in England. I have seen insects up north that I have never seen here before.
        No I don’t fall for this fake news – all scientists are trying to fool us – there’s politics and money involved. That’s just Trumpian stupidity. I go by the evidence of my own eyes. I’ve travelled the world and seen it first-hand. And I go by the data reported from all over the world. You believe in Trump and the right-wing climate change deniers if you want. I’ll go with the rational and evidence.

    2. John – well I certainly prefer their views on nature to that of ours. They respected nature. We want to tame it, control it and destroy it. They wanted to move through the land without leaving a trace. We have to leave monuments to show how great we are. When they killed to live they gave thanks to the spirit of the creature they killed.

      If the planet lives then I think it would prefer the native American ethos to that of ours. Perhaps it will give a shrug and eradicate the parasites that are bothering it?

      1. I agree that the Indigenous respect for nature is the superior attitude. Somehow, the rest of us missed the boat. When I see the deregulation movement in Trump’s America, I begin to lose hope for our survival.

      2. Yes John so do I. I despair at what I see going on around the world. There is short-termism in peoples attitude towards the environment. All some people seem to care about is themselves and this moment. They don’t care what the impact is in the future or the cost to us and nature. It’s a false perspective. In the long term it comes back to bite us all.

  2. Of course it’s alive! And I, for one, think it’s getting ready to pitch a fit. Didn’t you hear that within 48 hours there were 64 earthquakes around the Ring of Fire??? I’d say Mother Nature is plumb p*ssed off!

    1. calensariel: Please! There’s a reason for everything and you forgot to bring the other half of the story with you. That isn’t helpful.
      The earth’s tectonic plates are moving every second 24/7. There are thousands of earth tremors recorded every day, with hundreds an hour.
      64 you say? Whoopee! That’s probably about an hour’s worth.

      Scientifically speaking – if the spiritualists will allow for some coordinated facts rather than mystical chitter-chatter, the biggest threat to Europe is from the volcanos in La Palma in the Canary Islands. There hasn’t been any major activity since 1949, and they reckon that if it did blow it could generate a mega tsunami, something in the region of several hundred metres high. The results would obviously be devastatingly catastrophic.

      1. You’re right, Steve. I’m enough of a science geek to know all that. I was teasing Opher! Btw, my favorite volcano is Krakatoa. My favorite earthquake was in San Francisco 1906 (though it was the fire afterward that caused most of the damage). And my favorite hurricane (I don’t think they were naming them then) was the one that hit Galveston in September 1900 and killed over 6000 people. I like reading about natural disasters. Recently read The Mercy of the Sky by Holly Bailey about the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma in 2013. It was like the third time Moore had been hit and devastated. Let’s see… Have I forgotten any of my favorites? 😉

  3. I found your resident contrarian curiously unreassuring – Corporal Jones shouting Don’t Panic! Asia’s carbon footprint is huge because the rest of us consume their exports. And what of the motives of the fossil fuel sponsored climate change deniers?

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