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Thank you
Fantastic bit of filmmaking. Thanks for posting.
The language is reminiscent of Dylan Thomas.
While I agree that climate change is of existential importance o am not sure that the attitude of contempt towards many people is counterproductive. I found that attitude, too, in much of Dylan Thomas; an impression that he was addressing idiots.
Sadly, I think some campaigners behave in similar ways which are counterproductive to the awareness and subsequent changes they think are required.
We do need to talk about the weather and why it is changing as it is, but I do not think such attitudes are persuasive.
Apologies for sloppy editing. The final part of the second sentence ought to be ‘…..I am not sure that the attitude of contempt towards many people is productive.’
@Alasdair Macdonald, yes, I found that very strange. My neighbours sometimes discuss weather with me in terms of how it’s changed in our lifetimes, how weather phenomena suggest the seasons grow increasingly out of kilter, how nonhuman life is affected. And at a basic level, your clothes hung out to dry function like sensors, practically scientific equipment.
Why berate the poor mother? Surely there are many more appropriate targets. What was the peculiar thing about the scarecrow? A humaniform artifact that doesn’t react to elements the way living humans do. Why didn’t the kid ask some questions, then?
Well, it’s poetry, don’t expect truth, I guess.
It is propaganda couched in poetic terms rather than poetry per se. It takes aim at middle class complacency in a fairly blunt way. Is that wrong?
@Niemand, happy International Women’s Day to you.
Yes, it seems wrong-headed to vilify a mother struggling to keep up with domestic work, getting some relief in adult conversation and talking about the weather, as if she is a top-ranking climate change villain.
The child doesn’t actually do any questioning in the piece. In fact, the poet has silenced the child!
The scarecrow does not show how wind will gnaw at skin. One of the problems with poetry is that artistic licence undermines serious messages, and ambiguity plus imagery plus omission (etc) is quite hard to debate. In fact, the form is so bad that explanatory notes had to be crowbarred in.
Where did you get the ‘middle class’ angle from? I found the piece objectionably misogynistic.
There’s only so much that individuals and families can do about food security:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/mar/07/uk-stockpile-food-climate-shocks-war
Powerful!!!!!