The A1 Verse: Our priority is not to save the planet
By Thomas Gaulkin | July 25, 2022
Illustration by Zdenek Sasek
Every so often, a story published on the front page of the New York Times is so well written, meaningful, and appropriate to the Bulletin’s concerns that small snippets of it, properly chosen and arranged, produce something more than journalism, something that approaches … poetry. That blessed coincidence occurred July 25, 2022.
We suspect it’ll occur again.
Congo to Auction Land to Oil Companies: ‘Our Priority Is Not to Save the Planet’
(from the original by Ruth Maclean and Dionne Searcey)
To the old earth,
the scramble for
sanctuary.
We must expect catastrophe,
and just watch
helplessly.
In come the pledges
for the world’s
poorest.
But the world’s priorities
have sent prices
soaring.
Together, we make the world safer.
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Keywords: Congo, The A1 Verse, Ukraine, climate change, oil, poetry, rainforest, war
Topics: Climate Change
Thomas Gaulkin
Thomas Gaulkin is multimedia editor at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Prior to joining the Bulletin in 2018, he spent the... Read More
At 64% employed, the $17K/yr is not the Congo’s priority.
Gotta get back to my vacation, my three sofa sized SUV, my congratulatory life saving work as an Ivy League wonk publishing articles nobody reads for little money I can afford it. . How Dare those Congolese!!