A turning point in the climate crisis?

2023 was the hottest year on record by a significant margin. With Cop 28, is the world finally ready to make desperately needed changes?

“Nearly 200 countries convened by the United Nations approved a milestone plan to ramp up renewable energy and transition away from coal, oil and gas.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/climate/cop28-climate-agreement.html

Above is a clip from “On a Saturday in the Anthropocene,” which I read at Word Up Bookshop on October 23. Poets Patricia Brody, Lucille Lang Day, Alicia Ostriker, and I read poems inspired by the theme “Why Poetry Matters” in this challenging time. (October 2023 at Word Up Community Bookshop at Amsterdam & 165th St.)

The above poem is from HERE: Poems for the Planet (Copper Canyon Press, 2019), an international eco poetry anthology with a foreword from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and an activist guide from The Union of Concerned Scientists. The poem itself is one of mourning what we have done to our beloved planet, but it is also a poem of hope.

You can watch the entire reading on Lucille Lang Day’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFB5zOf_6lI

“Whether this is a turning point that truly marks the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era depends on the actions that come next and the mobilization of finance required to achieve them.” -Al Gore