It's Getting Hot In Here

Guest post by Adi Nochur

Ever since I was a kid music and activism have both been driving forces in my life.  The sounds of the Beatles and Nirvana in my elementary school classrooms inspired me to start playing guitar, and my uncle’s tireless campaigning around environmental justice issues in India, such as dams in the Narmada River valley and the Bhopal gas disaster, ultimately moved me to become part of the youth climate movement here in the U.S. For a long time I dreamt of merging these two passions to create a driving force for change.  I thought about starting a singer/songwriter type project, singing ballads about struggles for justice and freedom.  I even had a name for the project: “Narmada Bhopal,” in tribute to the battles my uncle fought in India, and that many continue to fight to this day.  But even though I had the concept figured out, I wasn’t sure how to get it off the ground.

Then during the summer of 2004, I figured it out.  While on a retreat with a group of youth climate activists in New York City, I caught an evening of slam poetry and spoken word at the Nuyorican Poets Café on the Lower East Side.  I had never heard anything like it before, and I was amazed.  Here were people on stage without any instruments, speaking directly from the heart, twisting the English language inside out on itself (with some forays into Spanish for good measure) to tell their stories!  I thought to myself, “Hey, maybe I can do that!”

And so I did, and Narmada Bhopal was born, and the poems below became part of that project.

I have been blessed to share these poems with many friends and colleagues in the youth climate movement over the years, bridging the gap between poetry and performance, and now I am excited to share them with you.  Enjoy!

“The Earth Grows” (written in April 2005 for Fossil Fools Day)

The Earth grows warm as our hearts grow cold
And lies are traded and bought and sold
We can no longer accept what we are told
We need a new vision, something bold
To transcend false reality and learn to breathe free
And create a world based around you and me
Not corporations and politicians repressing liberty
We need to speak together as one community
Because global warming’s looming as a threat every day
CO2 makes our world hot and melts it away
And we the people suffer and choke on the ashes
Of the toxic fumes and the greenhouse gases

But in Washington DC they’re denying the facts
As the government and coal companies sign business pacts
And as they try to keep the black rock flowing fast
They show just how much they are stuck in the past

And the Senate keeps trying to drill offshore
The latest chapter in our never-ending war
On our environment, destroyed devastated degraded
The assault on our land continues blind and unabated
Poisoned atmosphere, we have much to fear
As global warming’s effects become more and more clear
The diagnosis is in, Mother Nature is sick
The time for action’s now, we’ve gotta move quick so

Know that another future is possible
One based on solar and wind and renewable
Energy, the key to setting us free
From corrupt politicians and corporate hegemony

We need to start demanding these alternatives
So that we our world and its creatures may live
Start locally, in your community
And ask yourself, what do I want for me?

To live in a world sick and choked by heat
Where insecurity manifests itself on the street
Where the world’s oppressed peoples cry out in vain
Because we have all become numb to their pain?

Or to live in a world where we all come together
Enjoying a stable climate and weather
Preserving our environment as a natural treasure
And rediscovering our lives and spirits and pleasure?

We’re at a crossroads and the choice is ours
In this hour of darkness we’ve got the power
The Earth grows warm as our hearts grow cold
When will we warm up to the Earth?

-

“One World at a Time” (written in August 2006 at the Sierra Student Coalition retreat in New Hampshire)

One campus at a time
One city at a time
One state at a time
One country at a time
One world at a time

One world at a time when we are standing on the edge of a new beginning
One world at a time when we are rising to the challenge of a generation

I can feel this movement coursing through my veins
As I gaze into the eyes of my brothers and sisters
Knowing that we are all in this together
Knowing that the bonds of solidarity will connect us forever

One campus at a time
One city at a time
One state at a time
One country at a time
One world at a time
We are making change and reclaiming our future

And we will continue to transform minds
One world at a time

It’s Getting Hot In Here: Create Our Climate is a month-long series to feature the creative work of the youth climate movement.  Through poetry, prose, visual and performance art, we aim to use these different media to communicate the passion, struggle and imperative of our work tackling climate and energy issues.  Please join youth leaders for posts on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout April.