after all this / tell them about the water / how we have seen it rising

December 9, 2015 8:30 AM

Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner is a poet and climate activist from the Marshall Islands. Recently, she performed her poem Tell them at a protest calling for fossil fuel divestment at the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference. Transcript on Democracy Now.

In her blog, Jetnil-Kijiner writes about her decision to attend the Paris COP21: "I was tired of the constant reminder that, to the world, we are just a drowning nation. And nothing more."

Fighting climate change with poems.

Previously, she has given a speech at the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 UN Climate Summit, including reciting her poem Dear Matafele Peinem, which has also been made into a video.

Via Osocio.

posted by sively (2 comments total)

Radio New Zealand: Pacific Island delegation makes waves at climate conference, an interview with Sina Brown-Davis, an Aucklander of Maori, Tongan and Samoan descent, who attended both the Paris conference and the London march, discussing indigenous issues in connection with climate change.
posted by XMLicious at 9:25 AM on December 9, 2015

Sure, losing islands and having to offshore their culture is sad, but think of all the good things that coal does for you every day! And the best thing about global warming climate change is that it will create a whole bunch of brand new islands!

San Francisco, Miami... and our first major domed underwater city, New Orleans!
posted by markkraft at 10:15 AM on December 9, 2015