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Friday 12 April 2019

The Shape Of Things To Come


The Shape Of Things To Come

It seems they’ve come to an agreement
On climate change, global warming and such
That will assure the future of planet Earth
Give the human species new birth
Signed a new treaty, whatever that’s worth
To avoid a dystopian future of gloom, steer us away from impending doom
Give our atmosphere a little more room, and let us breathe once again

So does that mean we’ve found a solution?  That there’ll no longer be any pollution?
Can we stop worrying and relax?  I don’t think so, and here are some facts:
It’s like a resolution to cut down on smoking, not to stop, but to carry on choking,
Just a little more slowly – and I’m not joking
The planet’s future is probably nixed, because the problems aren’t fully fixed
It’s just a huge box of tricks

The carbon’s still being dug out of the ground, and will continue to be burned all around
Science and technology collude in the cracking, to assist industries like mining and fracking
Extracting resources sadly lacking, so into the corner we’re backing
Destroying what’s left of the thin atmosphere, undermining the whole biosphere

You see - the damage is already done!  The Jet-stream’s decidedly swung
Into a different pattern and course
Global population’s increasing perforce
Which means we’re heading no doubt, towards malnutrition, starvation and drought
Poverty and desperation all about
Rising temperatures and rising seas, natural systems brought to their knees
Typhoons and hurricanes, monsoon rains, dust-storms across all terrains
Freak hailstorms, weird weather in all of its forms
Choking fog, carcinogenic smog
Gas-masks and particulates you can taste
And then in our haste, we’re tipping out waste
Into the oceans that boil, there’s not much left to spoil
It’s quite drastic, the sheer amount of plastic - it’s simply fantastic
It seems there’s no escape, from the rape of the landscape
As we hollow out the planet, exhaust our reserves,
Taint the water courses, use up the resources
Till there’s so few, that there’s nothing to do, and none left to renew
With intensive methods of factory farming, the over-crowding’s alarming
And processes even less charming
We can’t afford a reduction, in the scale of food production
With gene-splicing and genetic modification’s persistence
Creating anti-biotic and painkiller resistance
In a move that’s endemic, the threat of a global pandemic
Spawning mutations, hybrids and clones, as well as pumping in buckets of hormones
Poisoning that goes down to the bones – and now the skies are filled up with drones
As the global corporations push for power - they’re a dangerous, de-regulated shower
Where corruption’s a too-common flower
The free-market economy believers, elitist capitalist system deceivers
People in pursuit of gain, never mind the pain
Never hear the under-privileged sobbing
 Or the self-determination it’s robbing
Leaving the stark choice of unemployment , or insecure underpaid jobs
How are the under-pensioned to fare, in a system of under-resourced care?
The elderly, the vulnerable, the poor?  The sick and the weak are left on the floor!
Whilst the rich climb into their gilded towers, protected by private security powers
With their robots, and servants and slaves, the rest of us head for our shelters and caves
Barricaded inside our modules or heading for our early graves
But that’s how market forces work in the end, and polarisation of life-chances tend
To foster political and religious extremism that bend right-wing fundamentalism to rend
The world to its liking
And as the suicide bombers, move deftly among us
As their explosions we hear, coming increasingly near
Creating a stewing mass of violence and fear
Nowhere is safe, it can be presumed
Conclusion – I think we’re all doomed!

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2019

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