In
a tale of two fire responses the differences could not be more clear
In
California where homes, businesses and people in midst of the forest appear
A
wildfire brings out the fire trucks and water dropping planes
Even
sometimes smoke jumpers to fight inaccessible flames
No
effort is spared to halt the fires
Even
convicts on cheap wages are hired
No
limit to the dollars to save people from their own mistakes
Building
homes nestled in among the trees without adequate fire breaks
Like
building next to rivers prone to overflow their banks
Or
homes on beaches when hurricanes overcome a home’s sandbagged flanks
But
in Brazil in the Amazon whose rain forest’s contribution to environment we
should treasure
Speed
and alacrity in response is in weeks and efforts so hard to measure
No
houses in the Amazon are found with pools
Only
indigenous natives in an environment harsh and cruel
Thank
God for social media and internet
Abandonment
to fire the civilized world will not soon forget
Shamed
into action Brazil finally brings its military into the act
The
G-7 Meeting will not be a complete failure and the nations will aid in the
fires’ attack
Home
to mass quantities of our planet’s need biomass
Finally
we are energized to not let these fires last
Maybe
if we are lucky as we mourn over the charred embers
We
act on the disastrous impact of uncurtailed logging that we will not forget but
remember.
© August 25, 2019 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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