Editor:
A Mississippi River of rain pours down onto saturated soils,
Running down a waxy layer of topsoil
Melted in the furnace of last summer’s wildfires,
Ignited in the heat dome that cremated beetle-killed lodgepole pine
And ended the lives of five hundred people.
The water inevitably follows topography downhill,
Bringing devastation to communities, families, roads, bridges, homes, farms and animals,
Unprepared for the ferocity of hydrologic cycles at 1.1 degrees C of warming,
While the plans for climate adaptation and flood protection remain dry and dusty on office shelves,
Unimplemented for many reasons that made good political sense at the time,
And make absolutely no sense now.
Gaia is simply following the non-negotiable laws of physics and chemistry,
While fossil fools in Glasgow attempt to negotiate the non-negotiable,
Seeking to protect the very forces that are destroying humanity,
Looking for an escape hatch around inescapable truths:
That nature always bats last
That we must follow HER rules
That it’s the bottom of the ninth
That there are no extra innings
That we only just started playing
That we’re 50 billion runs (tonnes) behind
That she has zero interest in our politics, our jobs, our budgets,
Or that brand new Silverado pick-up truck,
Now floating down the Coquihalla River.
David Marmorek
Gibsons
