We applaud your resolve when you sound the alarm
And disparage the deeds that will cause our world harm
When one sees how depravity took us so far
It’s hard to believe how dimwitted we are!

But despite noble efforts from scientists who
research and conclude what what we really must do
So much of our leadership shrugs and says “No”
To making commitments best made long ago.

Are we really so shortsighted, puerile and mad
That we’ll throw away any last hope that we had
Of saving Earth from a Venusian fate
By making adjustments before it’s too late?

But there are those whose goals tend a different way
Who erode common sense in our minds every day
For PR folk are clever at sowing confusion
They’re expert at image, desire and delusion

And their skills are for sale — at the bidding of those
Who can pay for the misleading prose they compose
No rigorous testing can get a fair trial
When well-funded campaigns are intent on denial!

With the end of the quarter’s net profit at stake
There’s no limit to what drastic steps they will take.
But take heart, it might be that we will not all fall
To catastrophes stemming from climate at all

With technology’s future, pandemics and war
There’s so much to choose from and every day more
Though the best case for climate might well be the worst
We may well kill ourselves off some other way first.

K. Titchenell