Climate Change in Massachusetts
Boston, MA
2024, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
Heat waves melt the bottoms of our shoes
Just like the children shoes from the Love Canal 99th Street Elementary School
Shoes melting, sizzling onto the pavement
These radioactive waves don’t feel so cool
East Boston, Seaport, Backbay
Rising sea levels have been rising by blues; not so cool
This catastrophic hot summer sun
If I wear sweats, would I feel cool?
Declared heat emergencies been knocking down our door,
knocking down our window
The heat trapped in an enclosed sphere that I call “home”
Droplets of sweating drip down my exhausted eyes as I scavenger for shade
Suddenly we fall into Earth’s depressed empty state of mind
Only dreaming of singing Jay-z’s Empire State of Mind
We live in Massachusetts, where seasons mix
Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring
It seems like Mother Earth got her own tricks
Been giving our asses a kick
But click this,
My Urban Bee Lab got me stats
Honey bees don’t do well in climate stressed areas
So the question they asked: “What do we do about that?”
Alongside that we experience drastic change
In 2014, a big snow storm left memories behind
Compared to today, barely any snow fallen
I only got change for today.
I left my two cents out here for this stage
New change of clothes, new change of mind
But the question is when will we change?
And when will we stop being greedy over leftover change?
And when will we stop this climate change?
Reflection
As teenagers, we feel as though adults tend to ignore youth input on social and political issues. We wanted to express our opinions of the world through poetry. Since words curate meaning and impact, we wrote a collaborative poem as our art form. We were interested in art because it allows us to communicate through beautiful pieces such as poems to address change. Art engages people and allows people to express their feelings to a deep. A state of frustration dominates the tone of our poem. Climate change is getting worse, and if we continue to neglect Mother Earth, then nothing will change. Greenhouse gas emissions have only increased, and it is expected to skyrocket in the near future. Recycling is a huge part of tackling climate change but there’s also community gardens that promote the oxygen-carbon cycle. Creating community service projects, such as planting trees, can also naturally recycle carbon dioxide into oxygen. Relying on public transportation is another method of addressing sustainability. Less individuals privately polluting the atmosphere with their cars will reduce the total amount of emissions.