As a climate conference ends in Scotland, and 200 countries agree to a plan to return with a “strengthened” plan to curb greenhouse emissions. We have the success of the commitment to plan for a plan to cheer.  We have developed nations committing to help poor nations with their plans. We have the historic achievement of admitting that burning coal is a principal cause of our planet’s warming.  Duh.  We have words in the agreement to “phase-down” coal… political commitments, and words with plenty of wiggle-room.  Valuable or not?   Only actions will tell us over the next decade.  The results will be self-evident to the next generation.

The good news is the countries of the world are acting together (or play acting) to address a global threat.  The COVID-19 Pandemic was a warm-up act to the world cataclysm which climate change could be, and being slow to work together and act to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees C will make a pandemic that killed over 5 million people over the last 22 months look like a minor annoyance.

IT IS FOR REAL AND SO VERY NEAR

Just as the virus cared little about its name
World warming, relentless is much the same.
It is coming to your and my neighborhood
To extract a cost as we were told it would.

Politicians and leaders plan to make a plan
about how we should all be making a stand.
But we don’t give it much more of a thought
beyond, maybe we won’t need the coat we bought.

Everything is local and personal, until it’s not.
Everyone for their own liberties, until it’s too hot.
Everyone for themselves until we see the children
suffering the flood and droughts of a climate cauldron.

We will care more when it’s too late for our kind
and we’ll beat our breasts and seek miracles we find
in science that will shrug and say, but didn’t you hear
when we said that this is for real, and oh so very near.