Literature – Ecosystemic Magazine

Coping with Eco-anxiety as a Climate Activist

14Dec

By Isabelle ReineckeNo Comments

Coping with Eco-anxiety as a Climate Activist

By Isabelle Reinecke, Sidwell Friends School, founder of Youth Against Plastic Pollution Stress over the Years: Elson Bankoff As a young climate activist, I am often surrounded by messages of doom and gloom. Some days, it feels like everyone in the world is working against me and my future. Don’t get me wrong, I love the work I do; it brings me so much joy and, more often than not, hope. But it can also be incredibly overwhelming to know the realities of the climate crisis and have no idea what the future will actually bring. Is everything my fellow activists and I are doing enough? Will that big bill be passed? Will I and all of the other young people around the world even get to see the future we’ve dreamed about our entire lives? Personally, I have noticed that when I get frustrat...

20Jun

By Abby KelsoNo Comments

Literature

Environmental Reading List & Watchlist

By Abby Kelso, Sidwell Friends School In Alexis Madrigal’s book Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology, he illustrates the history of green technology in the United States, from electric cabs in New York in the 1890s to Idaho’s geothermal heating system of 1910. Though many view the focus on green technology as relatively recent, Madrigal reveals that the United States has utilized green technology sporadically for decades. By examining the past, Madrigal envisions a more hopeful future—a future in which environmentally friendly technology is the norm, rather than an exception. An environmental reading list would not be complete without Rachel Carson’s historic book, The Silent Spring. Published in 1962, Carson’s book is largely credited with sparking t...

20Jun

By Elson BankoffNo Comments

Literature

Poem: Ode to the Movement

By Elson Bankoff, Sidwell Friends School Praise the sweat upon their brow,Mostly as drops gather in the heat.Then too, like those very drops,They condense in miraculous numbers.Their atomic energy to the mammoth star.Praise the movement, hear their chants echo from afar. And for every sign held, and arm achingAtop a hill, in that driving heat,Generational cycles rewardEachother. Flowers to soldiers,Or bodies planted to diner leather seats.Now a new march continues,Because love persists longer and love persists stronger than corruption ever will. Praise their fire that runs rampant,Their hyperfixation not haltedBy those who, with the brightness,Have their eyes become dull.The romantics and believers,Bound to save what is small, by recalling something large.Praise the loyal movement...

20Jun

By Elson BankoffNo Comments

Literature

Poem: Bison, Atmosphere, Ecology

By Elson Bankoff, Sidwell Friends School We run with our intuition and with our passionIn heards, we triumph across Great PlainsInto hearts, enriching minds,Generational continuity for the sakeOf generational continuity. Bison. The sky is abstract, it is visualBut the air adds distinct layers. Ones ofThick textures. Not rich, like a sweet breezeOver fertile land;But poisoned and suffocating.Atmosphere. The sky is connected to the groundSmall stalks of grass that are nibbledAnd rebirthed.The ground bound to stabilizing mantle,And resting upon that, is the breath of creation.The joy of being. The wholeness of symbiotic narratives and journeys.Ecology.

20Jun

By Anjali ANo Comments

Literature

Poetry: The Earth’s Afflictions

Poetry: The Earth's Afflictions By Anjali Amin, George School If the earth was a dogit’d be covered in fleas,eating away at its furlike we cut down the trees. If the earth was a shoeit’d be in need of a polish,because of scuffs we createdwith our mountains of rubbish. If the earth was a shirtit’d be ripped up and soiled,with holes made for minesand stains left by oil. If the earth was a personthey’d be down on their knees,begging for salvationas we ignore their pleas.