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
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
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
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.
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Buy the book – click here
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In Canada:
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Or from your local Amazon Store.
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
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
I’m still greatly infuriated at what has happened to the large expanses of natural habitat that has been wantonly destroyed.
We live in a world where nature is under attack. We are encouraged to set aside areas in our gardens for insects because their numbers have crashed, yet a huge expanse of rich habitat is just stupidly flattened. It does not make sense!
I think it has spoilt my summer. No more chances to see those wonderful animals – the stoats, kestrels, owls and kites. Without anywhere to live or food to it they will be elsewhere.
Here is a picture of what the hill looked like a short while ago:
Unfortunately, I did not take photos of the really wide verges where the stoats live.
This is how it looks now:
A wide, 5-metre verge, has been mown. All the wildflowers are gone. The undergrowth is gone. There will be no seeds, no insects and so no food for the birds, voles and mice, so no food for the stoats, owls and kestrels.
The litter is now scattered everywhere. It looks disgusting.
The above photo is taken from a similar place to one in the first batch.
These are narrow verges but they have been mown too. You can see on the right-hand side the height of the undergrowth and flowers. On the wider verges, this provided habitat for millions of insects and the creatures who feed off them. The loss of flowers is terrible.
.Safar sent me this to cheer me up after my beautiful bit of wilderness was destroyed. There is hope!
Some good news: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/14/farmers-wildeast-hatch-plan-return-area-size-dorset-wild-nature-east-anglia
