Climate Literacy in Education, Volume 3, Issue 2 (Special Issue) 5 This is How We Will Survive and Hold Together A Found Poem: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler High School Teacher English Language Arts California I can take a lot of pain without falling apart I get a lot of grief that doesn’t belong to me. The officials permitted their town to be taken over, bought out, privatized Statelines and borders are closed Leaders who don’t know what they’re doing They’re still anchored in the past Waiting for the good old days to come back A little more hypocrisy to keep the peace. Sea level keeps rising with the warming climate Tornados smashing hell out of Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee Three hundred people dead so far. A blizzard freezing the northern midwest. New York and New Jersey, a measles epidemic. California, the rain stopped - High School ELAú Californiaú This is How We Will Survive 6 Dust dry reservoir. Too big, too poor, too black, too Hispanic to be of interest to anyone We’re a rope, breaking, a single strand at a time. There is no end to what a living world will demand of you. Most of our households couldn’t afford another big bill Most of the dead are street poor who have nowhere to go Who don’t hear warnings until it’s too late for their feet to take them to safety That reality scares me to death. There’s so much to do before it can even begin All people did was take back things they had given Change does scare most people But there’s nowhere to go. Not if you don’t have money. We can’t live this way! A community’s first responsibility is to protect its children Now use your imagination Cool, pale light glows from it Darkness brightening. Hang on to your notes I want to hear some of your poetry We need you to help us survive here Your teachers are all around you I’m not going to let you get hurt. We can get ready Get ready to make a life In spite of the scarcity and the violence Rebuilding, fortifying, doing whatever we can Find the rest of what we need within ourselves, in one another. The essentials are to educate and benefit community Win back their trust Kindness eases change Best to begin by teaching The weak can overcome the strong if the weak persist. Imagine that. Live! We are Earthseed. Climate Literacy in Education, Volume 3, Issue 2 (Special Issue) 7 In the bright, clear, early morning sunlight Like looking through a vast, open window There’s a huge, half ruined garden Where they don’t hide the stars Where we buried our dead and we planted California native and naturalized plants. Oak trees Take root. The life that perceives itself changing will save you. We’ve got work to do building a future that makes sense. It will work For we are Earthseed Anyone can be.