Earth Day Poem

Christmas Eve ’68, heading home from the moon

A photo was taken, causing Earthlings to swoon

Our tiny world, alone in the vastness of space

A planet full of wonder, beauty and grace

Not long after, on that small planet, Earth

A bold, radical, new idea was given birth

That perhaps more we should care

About Earth’s soil, water and air

And, Earth Day celebrations began worldwide

As we realized, there was no place to hide

Yet 52 years later it’s abundantly clear

We’re still putting too much CO2 into the air

The 4 billion then is now up to 8

And, for any real changes…we all still wait

Ice keeps melting as temperatures rise higher

Takes a monster storm to end a monster fire

Our plastic pollution is a new ocean feature

Found on every beach, in every sea creature

And, is it wise to cut all of Earth’s trees

Except bananas, palm oil and loblollies

We’re growing GMO food in poisoned soil

And we’re stuck, trapped, still burning oil

For the needed changes, are we too late?

I think not, but, for change, little time to wait

Yet, talk and talk and talk is all we do

Do politicians really not have a clue

They seem OK with an economy

Where growth forever we will see

But, that’s the same plan cancer uses

And, with that plan, everyone loses

But, we know, every day Earth provides

All we need, If we take a few, simple strides

The sun shines every day, that we all know

We can see that’s the way the future will go

Rooftop solar can provide what we need

Cutting trees for big solar, that’s all about greed

Remember, big oil & energy’s only real goal

That for power, we must all pay their toll

Yet, every storm, down goes another line

Make and store power at home, you are fine

We know how, yet we continue to wait

To build a world that is truly great

Not just for a few but for us all

Every Earth Day we again hear the call

We see the problems, easy solutions less clear

And, of our human presence, Earth is not aware

It will abide, doesn’t need to be saved

Whether lush green, hot, frozen or paved

But, as our only home, we’d better soon act

Be willing to listen, willing to deal in fact

You know, we humans can be pretty smart

Be both wise and clever and have a big heart

We need to elect folks that admit and see

Earth’s rapidly changing new reality

Plan smaller families to buy and use less

More and more growth will not fix our mess

So, let’s come together this Earth Day 52

Let’s come together, see what we can do

Let’s make big changes..and make them soon

While we may go to Mars or revisit the Moon

And, build colonies there under a dome

Let’s try and avoid that on Earth, our home

Today On Earth