By Tamara, Nairobi
Beauty in all she is,
all we need all we breathe,
without her a dead end,
slowly she is dying.
instead of feeding her,
we suffocate her,
tearing her apart.
But we need her,
our corrupt minds filled with worldly desires,
Is that really what we need?
poisoned we are now poisoning her,
we her voice, her echo,
she feeds us, shelters us, heals us,
without her we are nonexistent,
we strangle her, yet in need of what she gives.
If we pick up the pieces of her broken parts,
we bring her beauty back to modification,
a better place we will live in,
her voice will forever be heard,
the voice we give her will forever last,
and her beauty will live on.
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I wrote this poem in appreciation of the struggles various environmentalists (such as Wangari Maathai) have gone through for the sake of our environment. Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist and political activist, was the first African woman to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. She founded the Green Belt Movement, advocating for environmental conservation and women’s rights.
We don’t realize our biodiversity feeds us in many ways: it balances the air in the atmosphere, it shelters our animals, and it is simply beautiful. Slowly, we are killing it.
This poem attempts to explain that without her—our environment—we are non-existent. Some of the major issues we face such as hunger, water scarcity, and animal extinction are all caused by us not taking care of our environment. Instead of focusing on our worldly desires, let’s make this world a better place by embracing the green movement, hand in hand.