Destroying habitat – Irony!!

Posted on by Opher

While walking up my hill – past the scenes of devastation where they have mown the wide verges, I saw a sign at the entrance to a field. So I went and had a look.

The ultimate in irony:

The sign was about how wonderfully they were managing the land and providing habitat for wildlife such as the grey partridge.

It says that the chicks need plenty of insects and seed.

To the left of the sign was the wide verge that had been mown flat – destroying all the habitat full of insects and seed.

To the right of it was the field freshly ploughed with no strips of wildland for the partridges, no stubble,  no seed, no insects.

Was this some kind of sick joke???

No wonder nature is taking such a battering!!

The beautiful Yorkshire Wolds in summer – Photos

Posted on by Opher

This is my usual walk. Since lockdown I have been doing a 10K walk every day. This often involves me walking up this hill on to the Yorkshire Wolds. There is a great view.

It is great to see the changing colours due to the seasons and weather.

I used to see some amazing creatures too – stoats, hares, foxes, kites, kestrels and owls – but since the mowing catastrophe they have disappeared.

Nature is so restorative and refreshing.

These pictures were from yesterday’s walk.

Poetry – How to rest easy

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How to rest easy

 

I can rest easier knowing

That there are great tracts of wilderness

Left untouched.

They give meaning

To life on this planet

And reinvigorate my spirit.

For these regions

Are the light of the world

On a planet

That, despite the drone of engines,

Is rapidly

Falling silent.

They give me hope.

When we come to our senses

Perhaps those areas of wilderness

Will act as a reservoir

To replenish

The life

We have destroyed.

 

Opher – 5.8.2020

Poetry – The Plastic Jungle

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The Plastic Jungle

 

The flies are disappearing

The beetles are all going.

There are few caterpillars for the birds

It’s a sterile world we’re sowing.

 

It took five billion years

To create this interlocking mesh.

But it only took a few thousand

For us to create this mess.

 

With libraries of books,

Knowledge and civilisation.

We still do not understand enough

To correct this situation.

 

We seem content to let them go

Without a second thought,

While cluttering the plastic jungle

With the rubbish that we’ve bought.

 

Opher – 27.7.2020

Poetry – Dear Mrs Planet – a Third appeal

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This is the third one of my ‘sorry’ letters to Mrs Planet – the pleading of a recalcitrant child.

I’m not sure which one works best – what do you think?

 

Dear Mrs Planet – a Third appeal

 

Dear Mrs Planet

Thank you for your hospitality.

I’m really sorry that some of my fellows

Did not behave responsibly.

Please do not blame me.

 

I hope you will be able

To repair the damage done.

But, know we are not all the same,

Please don’t blame everyone.

Some of us are fun.

 

We’ll do everything we can

To make amends for the greed junkies.

We’re so embarrassed

By the overgrown monkeys

Who treat us like flunkies.

 

So Mrs Planet

Can you just see your way

To forgive us

And allow us to stay.

We promise we won’t get in your way.

 

Opher – 17.7.2020

Poetry – Dear Mrs Planet Too

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I wrote three of these poems. I was imagining a naughty child being threatened with punishment by their parent.

They have been caught doing something they know is wrong. I wanted it to be the sort of letter of apology that a child writes when they are forced to grovel.

I wrote three of them with different rhyming structures and metre. I wasn’t sure which one worked best and at one point I thought I could meld them into one – but I don’t think that’s really possible.

I’ll post the third one in a minute or two.

 

Dear Mrs Planet Too

 

Dear Mrs Planet,

We’re so sorry about the trees,

All the insects and the bees.

We’re sorry about the animals

We’ve driven to extinction.

We’re sorry that so many of us

Are behaving without distinction.

 

Can you ever forgive us

For the way we’ve been treating you?

We thought you were just a lump of rock

And we could do whatever we wanted to.

 

So Mrs Planet, I know we’ve been running wild.

Busting up the place like a dysfunctional child.

But please tolerate us for a while

And we’ll find a way to reconcile.

 

We promise to be good and clean up all our mess;

To stop discharging into the poisoned air.

We’re holding up our hand. We will confess.

We’re really going to change and start to show we care.

 

Opher – 17.7.2020

 

The Sci-Fi novel Green and the Green Movement

Posted on by Opher

Green and the Green Movement

The setting for this novel was in the distant future. The planet is heavily overpopulated and polluted. Nature has been ravaged.

I was exploring the philosophical nature of mind and whether the inner universe is infinite.

The other major theme was that of the Green Movement. In a last desperate attempt to safe Nature from complete destruction, they were trying desperately to get the government to take drastic action.

The Greens were split into three distinct factions who argued fiercely among themselves.

One faction believed they could gain public support and force the government to take action through the sheer force and rationale of their argument.

A second faction believed that big business was too powerful and that most people were simply not interested enough until things became so bad that it directly impacted on them, by which time it would be too late. They believed force was the only way to get big business and politicians to take notice. They were using terror and attacking the polluting industry.

A shady third faction believed that the problem was people. They hated mankind and believed that there was an inherent flaw in all people. There was no hope while humans were around. They believed it was only a matter of time before we destroyed the world. Consequently, the only way to save the planet was to eradicate mankind.

It set the background for the intrigue and drama as the two themes interweaved.

Why not give it a read?

Available in both paperback and kindle from Amazon.

In the UK:

Buy the book – click here

In the USA:

Buy the book – click here

In India:

Buy the book – click here

In Canada:

Buy the book – click here

In Germany:

Buy the book – click here

In Australia

Buy the book – click here

Or from your local Amazon Store.

Poetry – We’re part of it.

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We’re part of it.

 

There’s a small planet that we’re on

That provides everything we need;

An intricate interconnecting web

Of insect, fur and seed.

 

Some recognise that this delicate web

Took billions of years to evolve

And that we’re messing up a balance,

Creating problems we can’t solve.

 

It’s like cannibalising the life-support

That is keeping us alive

Instead of improving it –

Enabling us to thrive.

 

Too many people see nature

As a business, open to abuse.

I guess,

You either feel you’re part of it

Or it’s there for you to use.

 

Opher – 17.7.2020

Poetry – Profit Continues

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Profit Continues

 

As oceans rise and lakes dry,

Forests become desert land;

Rain fails and crops fry,

Many species make their last stand.

 

As coral bleach and fish die

Still mankind fails to understand.

Carbon continues to fill the sky

A stratagem remains unplanned.

 

Profit continues as the reason why

And fertile soil becomes sand.

Desperate people migrate or die

While pompous politicians grandstand.

 

Opher – 13.7.2020

Poetry – It’s the Small things

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It’s the Small things

 

It’s the small things,

The tree, the pond;

The small things:

The patch of nettles.

Every loss a blow.

Every small thing

A diminishing,

Until one day

There are no more small things.

 

Opher – 13.7.2020