Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education, Poetry, Art and Environment

Ed Hessler

It is August 20, 2021. Good morning from the Center for Global Environmental Education, St. Paul, MN. This is the 232nd day of the year (63.56%), Years do not have an endless supply of minutes and our supply is dwindling having spent 334,080 of them. Sunrise is at 6:20am and sunset is at 8:10pm which provides 13h 49m 28s of sunlight.

It is National Bacon Lover's Day and Foodimentary may add to your lore about bacon and food history.

August is National Immunization Awareness Month, which has special relevance during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Quote:"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." - Dr. Seuss (The Lorax) The original animated TV special  from 1972  may be seen here (25m 13s).

Today's poem is by Camille T. Dungy, who is a professor of English at Colorado State University. The title of the poem comes from ecological science. 

In an interview, Dungy defined the term, trophic cascade, that is the title of the poem as "a term from ecology. There is a continuance and connection from the trophy creature, often a large predator at the top of the food chain, for a simplified way of thinking about that term, and all the creatures who come in a cascading manner off of that creature." (reported by Heather Green in Poetry Daily). 

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has a video (19m 28s) on the ecological concept in the event you'd like a refresher or to learn more. Long but worth it. And beautiful, too.