Spotlighting Environmental Issues: A Poem
[News Item: A Chinese performance artist known as Brother Nut traversed Beijing with a vacuum for 100 days, collecting dust from the smog-choked air and later turning it into a brick. – The New York Times, 12/2/15]
Environmental issues can vex even great minds,
When easy solutions seem too hard to find.
An artist in China, where dirty air is too thick,
Vacuumed pollution to make up a brick.
He compared his quest to the mythical Sisyphus,
But can Brother Nut really inspire the rest of us?
In visualizing smog’s harmful, sad toll,
Raising awareness was his primary goal.
If off-the-wall options gain public attention,
Here’s more problems and creative solutions we’ll mention:
Melting Polar Ice Cap
Like Christo might, wrap thousands of “Frozen” DVDs,
Then install them in the Arctic to help cool the seas.
Plastic Microbead Pollution
Ban dressing room makeup with those tiny, pesky spheres,
And watch “au naturel” talent earn real, honest cheers.
Over-Harvesting Trees
Tour opera companies through threatened jungles and forests,
Invite loggers to exchange saws for roles in the chorus!
Endangered Species
Ban feather-costumed pop stars flaunting their distinction,
And prevent a possible peacock extinction.
Overpopulation
When unsold tickets and empty seats plague many productions,
Why would we want population reductions?
Exotic Wood Shortage
Use more “bio-friendly” string instruments made from lab-grown wood.
They’re edible too! (Don’t violas tastes good?)
Seriously now…when Earth’s “mountain of challenges” seems dauntingly tall,
Remember that the answers can start out real small.
Choose your role with environmental issues like pollution…
Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?
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