{"id":1697,"date":"2020-01-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www-prod.greenpeace.org\/usa\/campaign-updates\/1697\/travis-nichols-on-our-climate-in-crisis\/"},"modified":"2025-03-12T19:00:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T19:00:07","slug":"travis-nichols-on-our-climate-in-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/usa\/travis-nichols-on-our-climate-in-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Travis Nichols on our Climate in Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Poem for the #ClimateVisionaries Artists’ Project for Greenpeace<\/span>
Was it worth it not to die?
\nTo be remembered by this wretched culture?<\/span><\/p>\n

Travis Nichols, Author and contributor to our #ClimateVisionaries Artists
Travis Nichols, Author and contributor to our #ClimateVisionaries Artists’ Series<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meditations in an Emergency<\/h2>\n

In the beginning,
\nthere was no beginning.
\nIn the end,
\nthere will be no end.
\nChonky little wavelets of misery and comfort
\nexpire into the air and come back again
\nthrough your temporary person.
\nSunlight on plastic.
\nMoonlight on clouds.
\nLaughter, there and then gone.
\nA bubble trapped by ice for centuries
\ndrifts away as the glacier rots.
\nWas it worth it not to die?
\nTo be remembered by this wretched culture?
\nTo breathe in the adulation
\nand then breathe out that old dollar bill breath?
\nThere\u2019s you on the timeline.
\nA pen mark made by a mammal
\nfor no one to see.
\nSunshine on plastic, less bright now,
\nreleased into the deep time
\nof nowhere and nothing,
\nsuffering a little,
\nor a lot,
\nsleeping in dark matter,
\nwaking up encased in air,
\non the other side of the other side.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As we begin this critical new year in the fight against climate change, Greenpeace is giving over space on our channels to authors and artists working within the climate crisis. Acclaimed author\u00a0Lauren Groff<\/a>\u00a0prompted artists and thinkers to write essays and art about climate change for us, and so every day this month we\u2019ll have a new piece from that project that addresses, in some form, what it means to create in the midst of this crisis. The forces fueling climate change have the most powerful networks in history pumping out their devastating propaganda at unimaginable scale. It\u2019s going to take everything we have from all of us \u2013 imagination equal to the task \u2013 to create the climate we\u2019ll need to stop the crisis.<\/em><\/p>\n

We need these voices and these visions, but they won\u2019t be enough. We need you, too. We encourage you to check back on the\u00a0Climate Visionaries Artists\u2019 Project<\/a>\u00a0every day to see what\u2019s new, and to join the conversation by sharing your work on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and tagging it #ClimateVisionaries.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meditations in an Emergency In the beginning, there was no beginning. In the end, there will be no end. Chonky little wavelets of misery and comfort expire into the air…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[211],"tags":[6,285],"p4-page-type":[31],"class_list":["post-1697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-campaign","tag-climate","tag-climate-visionaries","p4-page-type-campaign-updates"],"yoast_head":"\nTravis Nichols on our Climate in Crisis - Greenpeace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/usa\/travis-nichols-on-our-climate-in-crisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Travis Nichols on our Climate in Crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meditations in an Emergency In the beginning, there was no beginning. 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