‘On land, in the seas, in the sky, the devastating impact of humans on nature is laid bare in a compelling UN report,’ says Matt McGrath (6 May 2019), BBC environment correspondent. ‘One million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction. Nature everywhere is declining at a speed never previously seen and our need for ever more food and energy are the main drivers.’  

‘Of the four billion life forms which have existed on this planet, three billion, nine hundred and sixty million are now extinct. We don’t know why. Some by wanton extinction, some through natural catastrophe, some destroyed by meteorites and asteroids. In the light of these mass extinctions it really does seem unreasonable to suppose that Homo sapiens should be exempt. Our species will have been one of the shortest-lived of all, a mere blink, you may say, in the eye of time.’
P.D. James, The Children of Men, 1992.

The Last Turtle               

It was down in Honolulu, just across the bay.

When I saw a giant turtle at least a mile away.

She really was so beautiful, the fairest ever seen,

In fact somebody told me, she was the last ocean queen.

Chorus:      Ooh, ooh. She was the last ocean queen.

……………………………………………………………………………..

Older than the mountains, and even all mankind,

She’d seen empires rise and fall, back to the dawn of time.

And as she drew closer and crawled upon the sand,

I asked her this one question I felt maybe she’d understand.

……………………………………………………………………………………

Is their hope for all our children, we love so very dear?

She looked at me quite strangely and wiped away a tear.

She said she’d heard the Romans, Egyptians and the Greeks,

Laughing to think that their ship of fools might spring a leak.

………………………………………………………………………………………

I asked her for her meaning, if she could please relate,

Though storm clouds were approaching,

and the hour was getting late.

Come with me she cried out, so I climbed upon her back,

She swam out past the breakers, while I held onto my hat.

………………………………………………………………………………..

From horizon to horizon lay destruction everywhere,

While sunning on the shoreline were folks without a care.

And high up in a citadel sat the leaders and their tarts,

Raking in the dollars saying look at all our bleeding hearts.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

Now answer your own question, the creature said to me,

Then tell me why am I the last turtle in the sea?

It was down in Honolulu, just across the bay,

I saw her swimming all alone, and oh so far, far, away.

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