Destroyers of Our Planet

Written by Claire Shi

a tree—one of trillions;

an animal—one of quintillions;

a flower—one of some-illions;

each a miracle of quiet existence,

each something we were meant to cherish.

yet, we, humans, take them for granted,

and worse—

we abuse them without hesitation.

every plastic bottle, one of septillions;

every factory, one of millions;

every car, one of billions;

each not a true necessity, but mere supply

to feed our never-ending demand—

some of us have tried to change,

to spread awareness, even—

but, that does not suffice.

effort from a few

cannot counterbalance

the large majority of us

who understand and simply choose to ignore.

we choose comfort over conscience,

convenience over responsibility,

forgetting that the very earth we exhaust

is the one that gives us life: mother earth.

what do we offer her in return?

nothing but chaos, only pain—

a poisoned thank-you.

what we refuse to learn is simple:

the environment can survive without us,

but we cannot survive without the environment.

we are the ones dependent, fragile.

the earth was here first, 

long before our footprints stained her soil,

and we are mere visitors of their home.

yet their home 

is what we choose to invade, to trespass

with our factories, our commodities, our wants.

we tear down trees as if pages torn from a book,

we exploit all her resources,

consume every gift she never owed us.

how do we find the nerve

to leave behind a world in ruins,

with such damage inflicted by our species?

we are humans without humanity, without care—

blind to consequence.

we are killing mother earth, without mercy—

shaping our collective ending.

we are destroyers of our planet.