A selection of five poems for this general election in hard times. To shine a light on our better nature, to remember how many different people are responding to the urgent issues of 2019 with human kindness, concern, and courageous conscience.
climate change
Climate change and Brexit
‘We urgently now need alliances between the climate emergency and Remain campaigners as our chances of combating disastrous climate change successfully will be significantly improved if and when we remain an influential EU Member State.’
What does climate change risk really look like?
Time to panic? ‘Climate change scares me rigid’ says Mike Rivington, so all the more reason to act now.
Fear and anger: rational responses to extinction
Children, angry and scared about climate change, might be more rational than adults criticising them: Quan Nguyen, a member of Extinction Rebellion Scotland, makes the case for emotional engagement.
Scotland be bold on climate change
Gaps between rhetoric and delivery reveal urgent need for joined up thinking in Scotland’s plans for tackling climate change: ‘Scotland must cut emissions to zero by 2050. Increase the 2030 target to 77% and, crucially, commit to actions on integrated policies to make that happen.’
A letter to my grandchildren
‘It is no longer possible for any individual nation to collapse in isolation. Our closely integrated global systems will simply disintegrate.’ Sceptical Scot publishes an extract from Jim Whyte’s prophetic Letter to My Grandchildren confronting the legacy the older generation is bequeathing to a no longer distant future.
Poetry and the power of simple pleasures
“With Trump in the White House and Britain heading blindly for Brexit, we must not be silent about horrors we witness, but let’s not stop enjoying and sharing simple pleasures’.” Fay Young reclaims the right to joy as a weapon against totalitarianism.