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Terra Australis
“Antarctica is the only place left on the earth that is
still as it should be. May we never tame it.”
--Andrew Denton .
The continent at the south pole was the last land
mass to be discovered. Though unseen and
untouched, still it was imagined. Maps in the
1600’s labeled it “Australia”. It was called that for
over two hundred years. In 1775, Captain Cook
stated that the existence of a south pole continent
was “probable”. In the early 19th century Dutch
settlers in New Holland changed its name to
Australia, and the polar continent remained
nameless for 80 years.
The first humans to set foot on the south pole
were the French in 1840. They named it
Antarctica--the place furthest from the Arctic.
It turned out to be twice the size of Australia,
about 6 million square miles. It is covered with
massive ice sheets, and it contains 70% of the
world’s fresh water.Today there are several ice
sheets melting and collapsing. If it melts faster
it could raise the level of the ocean 200 feet.
I tell you, the polar
caps are melting; soon coastlines
will shrink on all maps.
Glenn Buttkus
Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub
10 comments:
Glenn, your writing always transports me - just that I may float away on this poem. I have an inkling that we may be past the point of no return as far as polar ice. Will we = human race- change in time? Certainly does not appear that we have the will to change. Kathleen
Love this terrifying haibun Glenn. I knew you would find some fascinating facts to share brother, and you did. I was aware of none of this. 70% of our water, wow! And we gristle-headed morons are already starting to fuck that place up too. Gawd we are stupid shits.. we really don’t deserve to survive as a species. Too damned arrogant! Thanks for sharin’ this stuff dude!
Ah Glenn, your words cut deep.
This is terrifying to read Glenn. In Canada, we have our ice sheets melting fast too. Love the poem and quote by Denton too.
70% of the world's fresh water is in Antarctica, and it is melting? I just read that the Great Lakes have 21% of the world's surface water. That leaves 9% out there for the rest of the planet to use -- for now. We need to forget about space and focus on adapting to a Water World.
A Very interesting post Glenn. One thing we all know and need to prepare for is that the earth is in a constant state of change. The future could be very interesting indeed. Loved the haiku!
Your tone is hard-hitting with what can be construed as a banal reiteration of facts but you do it in such an excellent manner, that it stays and pricks the reader for a while.
Wonderful writing, Glenn!
Build an ark!
Seriously, this is terrifying, and yet we seem to have been hypnotised into thinking that buying stuff is more important than living. We don't deserve this beautiful planet.
This week’s poetics poems are going to give me nightmares – not that I don’t already have them.
And it won't just be the beachside mansions of the ultra-rich that are submerged; it will be the Ganges Delta, the Nile Delta, the pacific islands and about a billion human beings without a home. Where's Trump going to build his wall then?
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