Voices of the Future

If the kids can see the future
Can you see the future too?
If the kids can be the future
Then what are we to do -
But stand up with our voices
And do all we can today,
To remember their tomorrows,
And not let their lives be swept away.

A.J. Ponder

There are so many issues that affect the children of today, and the world tomorrow. We need to be doing something about them now. And that's not necessarily big things. Every little thing will help, from not using a plastic bag, to having sensible gun control legislation, sensible legislation of drugs,  improving voting rights... The list is endless. Individually we can't do everything. But if we can remember one thing, I'd say it should be love and compassion for our fellow human beings, and holding out an open hand in times of trouble.

But whatever we do, we must not let the next generations' voices be silenced -

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." MLK

Best wishes to you all

A.J. 

Do we need all this plastic?

I said some time back that I was working on an "If" poem.
That's not working so well, too many ideas. It's going in too many different directions.
So in the meantime, he's a little plastic ditty

Do we need all this plastic?

There’s plastic in the water

and there’s plastic in your tea.

There’s plastic in your fish

and in your BLT.

There’s plastic in Antarctica,

and on the ocean floor.

High up in the mountains

and right outside your door.

So now it’s time to do something 
(how about it changing the law).
Because I think we all know by now:

We don’t need waste plastic any more.

A.J. Ponder

Well, that wasn't great, but it was fun. Obviously, we're not all going to be perfect all the time, I'm certainly not. (Thought I'd better get that out there.) Which is why it's important to call for structural change, to make it easier for everyone to do the right thing. :)

Have a great week, people.

Waste Not

Rivers of
garbage
run down to
a sea
drowning
in plastic bags


It's an island you could walk on,
but not if you're a fish.
An island you could
place in an engine
and drive
around the world

but first you have to smash through
the barriers
of discarding what you see,
to discover
what you want

and how to get there

For who are we to
mine for gold in
uranium
mine for uranium
in rock

Everything we need
runs through our fingers.
All we have to do is
reach out
and take what is ours
to protect
what is not

A.J. Ponder

Some more links to go with the ones I put up a couple of weeks ago on "Working Towards Waste Not", where I posted a video of Bill Gates drinking - shock! horror! water!! And there are a few more links about recycling waste including companies "mining" gold and other precious metals in sewerage.

Gold and uranium mining. Believe it or not gold and uranium are often mined hand in hand, although not so long ago, uranium, was usually left in the tailings. So maybe someone should have asked Bill Gates if he'd rather drink recycled sewerage or uranium? http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/dec/05/nuclear-greenpolitics. 
 
Turning plastic bags into diesel fuel?  When? And yes, maybe we shouldn't be using them at all, but it's a bit late for that so... http://news.illinois.edu/news/14/0212bags_oil_brajendrakumarsharma.html

Have a great week,
A.J.

P.S.  I'm not sure I can manage to live waste free like these people, but it's a great goal, and one we should be working toward as a community :)
http://www.zerowaste.co.nz/
http://www.recycle.co.nz/problemsize.php
http://www.rubbishfree.co.nz/ 

And lastly...This...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/01/hawaii-plastic-bag-ban_n_7702382.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000010   (if you're not sure why they've done it, scroll down for the surfer)

The Nylon Gibbet

There's death riding over the waves,
so lets raise the jolly roger
avast

It's been so long since
we danced the hornpipe,
and made our victims walk the plank
lest they raft ashore,
on plastic bottles
 
All hands to deck,
trim the sail,
and raise the nylon gibbet,
for the tide waits for no man -
and our ship's a ghosting
against a hot wind,
amongst the empty waves,
while the innocent
hang


And a don't ye splice the mainbrace
until we've raised
the black flag
avast

A.J. Ponder

The idea for this poem is a mash up of a "dancing pirates" idea that refuses to work, and this truly horrible article The Ocean is Broken http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1848433/the-ocean-is-broken/--this/

It's a real worry that everybody wants and needs what the sea can provide, but it seems not everybody is prepared to look after it.

Miss Lionheart on Amazon

A.J. Ponder is the author of Wizard's Guide to Wellington and  Miss Lionheart and the Laboratory of Death.  

(Bundled into a super secret underground bunker Lilly must use her awesome genius skills - and her not so awesome social skills to survive long enough to create awesomely dangerous creatures and escape almost certain death...