Poetry – Extinction Rebellion

Posted on March 21, 2023 by Opher

Extinction Rebellion

The world is in a mess.

That’s not hard to see.

The plunder and the rape

Is killing bird and tree.

But there’s a rebellion against this extinction,

Carried out with distinction.

Superglued to trains and building barricades,

They’re fighting without blades.

They are fighting for the future;

They are making a huge din.

They’re trying to wake us up,

To what is happening.

For profit and gain,

We are busy plundering.

Without a care for pain,

Or a moment spent wondering.

But there’s a rebellion against this extinction

Carried out with distinction.

Superglued to trains and building barricades

They’re fighting without blades.

So long live the rebellion,

I hope it wakes us up.

Greed is so destructive,

We’ve got to give it up.

But there’s a wealthy bunch

Who just see the cash.

Unless they start to give a damn,

We’re heading for a crash.

But there’s a rebellion against this extinction,

Carried out with distinction.

Superglued to trains and building barricades,

They’re fighting without blades.

Opher – 24.4.2019

What we have done to the world over these last few hundred years is criminal. Without regard to the destruction or the agony of the creatures caught up in it we have devastated the environment.

Things have got to change.

Animal population numbers are decimated. Many face extinction. The wilderness is being destroyed.

Nowhere is safe.

Thank heavens some people are prepared to fight for a better future.

Anthropocene Apocalypse – Scenario 2 – The Population explosion and the future!

Posted on December 22, 2022December 22, 2022 by Opher

Anthropocene Apocalypse

In Scenario 1 the population continued to grow eating up space, wilderness and destroying all naturally living creatures. Technology dealt with the problems of food, water, energy, weather and even oxygen in the atmosphere. We lived in huge urban developments and the world is devoid of wild-life and natural areas.

Scenario 2.

The premise:

a. We realise the impact of our actions on the environment and limit our numbers, conserve the wilderness and wild-life, stop our habitat destruction and pollution.

b. We lay aside 50% of the planet for wilderness and wild-life. We do not allow roads, hunters or development in these areas.

We are extremely good at solving problems. We can easily create a sustainable future where wilderness and wild-life has a place.

The result:

a. We introduce contraception, education and family planning on a global scale and successfully reduce our population.

b. We use technology to produce better transport, housing, energy production, and food.

c. We do not have urban sprawl, deforestation, overfishing, or other unsustainable exploitation of the environment.

d. We raise the standards of life for all people globally so that there is no longer war, conflict or poverty. There are social services, pensions and sick pay enabling people to live without requiring large numbers of children to support them through hard times.

e. We produce technology that is not polluting and is sustainable. We have ample energy (probably through nuclear fusion and solar) and our farming methods are not cruel or ineffective. We can produce ample good food to support the population without encroaching on the wilderness areas.

f. The forests are conserved. Fishing is sustainable. The weather and global warming is controlled.

g. 50% of the world is teeming with wild-life that we can marvel at. The air, water and soil are not contaminated with carcinogens. We globally control the weather and global warming. Everything regarding conservation and pollution is controlled and enforced globally.

I know which of the two possible future scenarios I would prefer to live in.

The future is for our grandchildren’s grandchildren. In my own life-time we have destroyed over half of the world. I feel we are at the precipice. Will we jump?Posted in Ecology, environment, ExtinctionTagged conservation, Ecology, education, Extinction, idealism, journalism, Literature, Nature, Optimism, Politics, Population, Science, the future, Writing, Zeitgeist 4 Comments Edit

Anthropocene Apocalypse – Scenario 1 – The natural conclusion to our population explosion.

Posted on December 22, 2022 by Opher

Anthropocene Apocalypse

Let us look into the future and extrapolate from where we are to where we are heading.

Scenario 1

The premise:

a. The population continues to grow

b. There are no catastrophes that wipe us out

Man is extremely good at solving problems. So let us assume that we negotiate our way through problem after problem. We do not annihilate ourselves through nuclear war or manufactured biological warfare. We do not succumb to a virus. We merely continue to grow in numbers.

These are the consequences:

a. Space and shelter. We need land and housing and our cities, towns and villages grow. The countryside becomes consumed in plastic and concrete. Roads connect and transport systems enable easy access.

b. The Wilderness. The wilderness and natural world become open to us and exploited for farming, mining, logging and habitation until there is no more inaccessible wilderness areas. Roads run through every place.

c. The Wild-life. The wild-life now has no habitat left, no food, shelter or way of living. It is butchered for meat, hunted for ivory or medicine (The rarer it gets, the more it is worth, the higher the price, the more worth the risk). The remnants of the wild things are corralled into parks or zoos and confined, protected and used as objects of tourism. Those considered pests, unpleasant or dangerous are eradicated.

d. Food. Even with all the wilderness opened up for farming, the seas fully harvested and hydroponics, genetic modifications and intensive farming methods there is not sufficient food for the burgeoning population. Food is produced from bacteria and fungus in vast industrial vats (Pruteen, mycoprotein etc. – already produced in large quantities – in our pies, sausages etc.), textured, flavoured and used as a meat substitute. Proper meat is a luxury food item.

e. Water. Water is a dwindling resource and desalination plants provide supplies.

f. Energy. Fossil fuels are replaced by large-scale sustainable technology – probably nuclear fusion supplemented with solar.

g. Weather. The effects of global warming are alleviated. The hurricanes and extreme weather conditions are now able to be controlled.

h. Oxygen. Oxygen is a natural product of photosynthesis. With the destruction of the forests and pollution of the oceans it is no longer being produced in sufficient quantities. Oceans are seeded to produce algal blooms and hydrolysis plants produce oxygen from water.

Our lives in these huge metropolises are highly controlled. Our environment is plastic. Our food, water and even the air we breathe is manufactured. We take our children to see the last remaining trees in the tree museum. We then go to the zoo to get a glimpse of and wonder at the little animals that used to run free in the wild.

It’s a vision of the future. It is quite possible. But is that the way we really want to live? Is that the world we want to pass on to our children?Posted in Ecology, environmentTagged Alternative, conservation, Ecology, education, Extinction, idealism, Nature, Optimism, Politics, Population, Writing, Zeitgeist

Heading for Malham Cove

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Opher

The Yorkshire Dales are a wonder! The beauty is outstanding.

Three Haikus for Nature

Posted on August 14, 2022 by Opher

Three Haikus for Nature

Sun, clouds, drought and flood

Change in a billion strange ways

As carbon traps heat

Wind in tight circles

Spins the sinister raindrops

Into shards of ice

Ripping roofs, mud slides

Violent nature speaks loud

In fury at us

Opher – 9.9.2021

We are at the start of an epoch of change. Our activities have altered the planet. Ironically the future is not looking conducive for human beings.

Climate change is not only bad for us; it is also bad for many other species.

Our greed and stupidity is looking to become our downfall.

It is as if we are beginning to experience nature’s fury directed at us – storms, floods, heatwaves, hurricanes and droughts. We are reaping the rewards for our actions.

Too many people! Too much greed! Too much damage!! Too little time to put it right!!

We’re creating the future.

The Tree

Posted on August 13, 2022 by Opher

The Tree

Rooted firmly in the ground,

Anchored by a network of great cables

That fan out

Through soil and rock

Clutching,

Wedging,

Holding.

It’s trunk solid, stout and gnarled,

Solid as column of granite

Resolute,

Strong,

Grand and defiant,

Unbending in the wind,

Stout against the elements;

A pillar of Hercules;

Defiant against the universe,

Thrusting up into the sky.

Its branches radiating

As strong arms

Reaching to the heavens,

Dividing again and again,

Bisecting,

Radiating,

Into a filigree

Of fine twigs,

A delicate latticework,

An umbrella of artwork,

On which the myriad emerald green leaves,

Each one a work of art,

A joy,

Are supported in the air,

Bathing in the sunlight,

Rusting on the breeze.

A noble living giant?

A work of art?

A compendium?

Syncitium?

Mystical – a complex wonder to behold!

A tree.

A leviathan of flora,

A monster of complexity,

Repository of wonder.

A tree.

Opher – 9.8.2021

I find there is something spiritual, divine, magical and resplendent in the majesty of mighty trees.

They transcend.

A Narrow Belt of Colour

Posted on August 7, 2022 by Opher

A Narrow Belt of Colour

A narrow belt of bright colour on the sea of monoclonal green;

An elongated oasis of life among the sterilised land;

A thin strand.

Within these tiny parameters,

Vestiges of what once was,

Nature makes its last stand.

Opher 7.6.2021

As I went for my daily walk here in early June I was heartened by the thick swathes of flowers on the verge and hedgerows of the country lane.

The other side of the hedge was a great sweeping field of wheat – identical plants, sown in rows, all the same age, carefully supplied with nutrients, sprayed with pesticide and herbicide and nurtured into a huge sweeping green desert in which nothing else can live.

The other side of the hedge was a sanitised nightmare.

One day, when we are gone, the verges and hedgerows will reclaim the fields, the vestiges will expand to become all, and the land will spring back to life again.

Iceland – Mountains and waterfalls

Posted on August 6, 2022 by Opher

Such majestic landscapes of volcanic ash and rock, mountains and waterfalls.

The Simple Life

Posted on July 30, 2022 by Opher

The Simple Life

A bird sang at the top of a tree

A male chaffinch in full plumage,

Colourful,

His song strong and beautiful.

He watched me warily but did not stop singing.

He sang with all his heart

But he was not singing for me.

His song was a warning.

He had staked his claim.

His song was a boast.

It said he was powerful.

He warned off the other males.

He called out that he was here.

He was shouting that this was his patch

That he existed.

That he was strong and fit.

If he sang long enough,

With enough force.

If he sang the song of all time perfectly

She would hear it and she would come.

They would mate, nest and rear their young.

It would make his song worthwhile.

She would come.

So he sang with everything he had.

One day he might not be wary enough.

One day he might not be strong enough.

He would be eaten,

Or chased from his tree,

Succumb to the cold or hunger.

Drop from his perch.

For now he sang.

Life was simple.

She would come.

Opher – 4.5.2021

It is too easy to romanticise nature. Life is hard. You fight for your territory, assert yourself, prove yourself the most handsome, the strongest, the highest status, the one able to provide, and you are rewarded.

Life is simple.

You need food, water, shelter and a mate.

You fight for it with all you have.

If you are the best your mate will come.

If not she will select someone else.

If you are not watchful you will die.

If there is not enough food, water or the weather becomes too harsh, you will die.

So you find a place with sufficient, assert yourself; you sing.

It is a song of strength, a threat, an enticement.

You boast with all your might.

Singing is naked aggression.

If it is enough they will stay away and she will come.

The Simple Life

Posted on July 12, 2022 by Opher

The Simple Life

A bird sang at the top of a tree

A male chaffinch in full plumage,

Colourful,

His song strong and beautiful.

He watched me warily but did not stop singing.

He sang with all his heart

But he was not singing for me.

His song was a warning.

He had staked his claim.

His song was a boast.

It said he was powerful.

He warned off the other males.

He called out that he was here.

He was shouting that this was his patch

That he existed.

That he was strong and fit.

If he sang long enough,

With enough force.

If he sang the song of all time perfectly

She would hear it and she would come.

They would mate, nest and rear their young.

It would make his song worthwhile.

She would come.

So he sang with everything he had.

One day he might not be wary enough.

One day he might not be strong enough.

He would be eaten,

Or chased from his tree,

Succumb to the cold or hunger.

Drop from his perch.

For now he sang.

Life was simple.

She would come.

Opher – 4.5.2021

Life is simple.

You need food, water, shelter and a mate.

You fight for it with all you have.

If you are the best your mate will come.

If not she will select someone else.

If you are not watchful you will die.

If there is not enough food, water or the weather becomes too harsh, you will die.

So you find a place with sufficient, assert yourself; you sing.

It is a song of strength, a threat, an enticement.

You boast with all your might.

Singing is naked aggression.

If it is enough they will stay away and she will come.