not painful net zero
oh powers that be,
prevailed upon to make net zero
not happen
may you instead find a way
to make net zero
not painful
we can’t exempt our way out
of December fire
or chronic drought
or climate catastrophe
we can’t have a future where
we can predict what the weather will bring
built on a present where
anything goes
don’t grandfather in the status quo
that makes it so hard
for so many
to breathe right now
and what are we to say
to the school kids
who came to council
pleading for this code?
who we already promised
we’d build better?
who we already told
we’d heard?
if money needs finding,
then find it –
as they say,
the banks are full
our town’s already blackened by carbon
and built on coal –
if you’d have blue skies someday
don’t give up on green now
