Poems and Thoughts    by Frank Maurer

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Environmental Trilogy Plus One California is Burning; A Trilogy Plus One.    Number One. Smoke pervades the air, irritating the eye.        California is burning. Fire consumes the forest and the grassland.        California is burning. Hundreds of homes are engulfed and rendered to nothing.        California is burning. Cattle, sheep, horses, and chickens are homeless or dead. But what of all the unmentioned, nor thought of wildlife, which has obtained the same sad plight?        California is burning. What of all our driving, heating, and air conditioning which augment greater temperatures, which elevate the CO2 level, which desiccate everything, which leaves us an ever greater tinderbox?        California is burning. This burning is the manifestation of the neglect and mismanagement of our very world--our only home. Florida is Flooding; A Trilogy Plus One.    Number Two. Water is pervading the sewers, backwashing the pavement.        Florida is flooding. Beaches are slowly eroding from a rising sea.        Florida is flooding. Homes are quietly rendered useless from soggy ground.        Florida is flooding. Pastures are continually wet, causing fungus to excel on hooves. Puddles and standing water--a paradise for mosquito larvae!        Florida is flooding. What of all our driving, heating and air conditioning which augment greater temperatures, which elevate the CO2 level, which allow for ever larger storms, which yield evermore destruction?        Florida is flooding. These rising seas and greater storms are the manifestation of the neglect and mismanagement of our very world--our only home. The Tundra is Melting; A Trilogy Plus One.    Number Three. Higher temperature pervades the north of our planet.        The Tundra is melting. Once frozen roads are now rendered useless from the melt.        The Tundra is melting. Homes and whole villages must be evacuated or physically moved.        The Tundra is melting. Icebergs are melting early to nothing, Causing the hunting polar bear to invade the land.        The Tundra is melting. What of all our driving, heating, and air conditioning which augment greater temperatures, which elevate the CO2 and methane levels, which are the source of warmer seas and atmosphere, which affect the shoreline of the entire world?        The Tundra is melting. These melting icebergs and sinking Tundra lands are the manifestation of the neglect and mismanagement of our very world--our only home. The Rainforest is disappearing; A Trilogy Plus One.    Number Four. The lungs of our planet are disappearing before the saw.        The Rainforest is disappearing. Humans, their hunger for converting the forest to pasture.        The Rainforest is disappearing. Rather than foraging the fruits of the forest; steaks are desired.        The Rainforest is disappearing. Gold discovery now escalates everything to an ever-greater fevered pace. Clearing the land for grazing presses the collapse ever sooner.        The Rainforest is disappearing. What of our driving, heating, and air conditioning which augment greater temperatures, which elevate the CO2 level, which lower the oxygen production of the forest, which increase the relative CO2 level over all the world?        The Rainforest is disappearing. The reduction of the forest mass on the belt of our planet is the manifestation of the neglect and mismanagement of our very world--our only home. Frank Maurer. Antioch, April 2021