An apology to the other billions of species of Earth
Vestal, NY
2024, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
I opened the news; the climate, they said,
Is getting hotter.
Not because the Sun is getting closer,
But the Earth is getting hotter.
How is this possible? I think to myself,
As I prepare to go to school.
The school that was built on forest;
Forest once belonged to the oaks and ferns.
Forest was home to more than buildings and cars.
I ponder, how was this possible?
As I get into my family’s car,
The car powered by fuel;
So we can travel in our boxed couches with wheels.
Fossil fuels, they call them.
Burned up so we, one species of the billions on this planet,
Can live in our own modern world.
Burned up alongside the habitats of billions of other species.
I am eating my lunch, and I’m baffled.
How is this possible?
How could our overuse of resources disrupt the order of the ecosystem?
I begin to fret, frantically, begging,
Someone tell me, how, how, is this possible?
How could the ice caps be melting,
The habitats of the polar bears be drifting away,
The monarchs flying in a dizzy not sure whether they should migrate,
Because one species abuses Earth’s resources.
I cry out… but no one answers me.
Once upon a time,
The trees and flowers would answer me.
The sea turtles and pandas could answer me.
But now, now that one species on Earth has let down the other billions of species,
How would they respond?
Would they cry out or stare despondently at us,
The one species on this Earth,
Whomanaged to single handedly destroy the lives of the other billions of species.
I ball up my fists, it’s already begun, but I am determined.
If we stop destroying forests like they grow back every few days,
If we stop allowing ice sheets to melt,
If we start protecting the habitats of animals we, ourselves, endangered-
Maybe someday we can look into the eye of the billions of species we let down,
And reach out an apologetic hand, promising;
“I will protect you.”
Reflection
I decided to write this poem after learning about the environmental impacts humans have on the Earth. While writing my poem, I felt determination to represent my experience, as a teenager, in a world where climate change is still not as widely acknowledged as it needs to be. I channeled this confidence into researching the cause and effects of climate change, especially highlighting how everyday life can quietly be contributing to such a horrible issue. As I wrote my poem, I represented this growing fury by gradually building up the tension in my stanzas- until at the end, with fearlessness and determination, I set a goal- to make it up to those species and organisms we as humans harmed. I decided I would discover new opportunities and programs in my community that could help further my goal. My main message to readers of my poem is this; so many things we do in our everyday lives affect more than just us. The buildings we enter, the transportation we take, the resources we use- these all affect every species on Earth, not just us as humans. I want people to be able to read my poem and realize that the actions a single person can take are impactful and will change the world as we know it.