Darkness

In Paris, on February first, a new report on Climate Change written by the United Nations experts in Climatology will be presented. L’Alliance pour la Planète (a collective of over 80 organisations in defense of the environment) has launched a call to action. In Belgium, parliamentary elections are planned in May, in France Presidential Elections are upcoming. Doing something that makes politicians stop and think and realize the importance of environmental issues to the citizens is critical at this time. The planned action is friendly to the earth and could be effective if the media report the event well: between 7.55 pm and 8 pm everybody is asked to switch off all lights for five minutes, giving the planet five minutes of rest and ourselves five minutes of serenity, meditation, down time. We are all aware of the dangers to wildlife, the melting of icebergs, rising sea levels with the loss of small island states, droughts and even Antarctica warming up. We have seen and suffered the strange weather patterns in the USA, freak hurricanes and gales in Europe this winter. Loss of lives, not only human life but animals and plants too, loss of fruit and vegetables, making it harder for the poor part of the population to buy healthy food, loss in infrastructure are just a few examples of the consequences of our irresponsible squandering of the earth’s resources. So let’s all join in and embrace darkness.

The dark curtain drawn
there is but night
No sign or token
no linchpin
no stirring
no gray sight of dawn

Nothing
but cosmic wind
the sea and the lighthouse
within