The Power of Poetry for Climate Change

When you consider
the carbon footprint
of butt sitting,

manufacturing text for hours, flushing
wasted words up the delete-key smokestack
while the glaciers and ice caps melt,

then you realize
this poem has
enormous power for change

because the depth of its impact
is how much
it made the oceans rise.

The Lake , 01 March 2025.

Notes: This poem was provoked, in part, by reading this article: “The carbon emissions of writing and illustrating are lower for AI than for humans.” Tomlinson B, Black RW, Patterson DJ, and Torrance AW. Scientific Reports, 2024, 14(1):3732. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-54271-x Of course, the carbon emissions of (humans) writing quick doggerel are less than the carbon emissions of (humans) writing carefully crafted and moving poetry. Is it worth the cost?

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