Hi All

It’s been a busy summer and so many of you have been writing poetry and sending it to me, for which I thank you.

This month's subject is Family Tree and I look forward to receiving your entries by the 26th September.

Last month’s poetry competition in the Barnet Borough Times and Harrow Times proved popular with lots of you having thoughts on Going Green.

Our Harrow winner was Alan Tremeer:

Going green by Alan Tremeer

 

Sustainable and ethical

Go green with everything

That’s why our waste collection

Has a different colour bin

 

A black one for all foodstuff

Recycling goes in blue

Green for other rubbish

It’s so easy to do

 

Use eco-friendly products

Zero plastic always buy

My carbon footprint is reduced

Because I never fly

 

Take a bus or even walk

When your journey isn’t far

Emissions cause pollution

When you use a car

 

The shopping bag I use for life

Toilet paper in my loo

Like my bio handwipes

Is recycled too

 

We’ve still got time to change things

Earth’s future is at stake

Preventing global warming

For all our children’s sake

 

Barnet’s winning poet was Richard Adam

DON'T BE SO GREEN by Richard Adam

There is the screaming sound
Of seagulls littered up and around landfills
And there are still mounds of paper bills
There are empty coke cans strewn along beaches
And bulging black bags of mouldy peaches
In the stillness of a perfect aqua ocean
Slowly drifts a choked sea porpoise pup,
Washing up on festering sands
Because of all the chewed plastic                                                                     Its throat all cut up

So let's have a plan
Let seagulls pinch fish ‘n’ chips
Instead of diving into waste
Taking fatal dips.
Let us respect our weary Planet Earth
And put an end to trees engulfed in smoke and flame
And teach our children to always do the same

Some of our runners up were:

Kusum Hars wrote an excellent poem on the subject:

Going Green by Kusum Hars

She gave us everything food water and fresh air

Nurtured us all our life with loving care

We took away everything from her in our greed

Did not realise she has more generations to feed

She will be a mother for generations to come

So we need to wake up and fix the damage done

Forests destroyed giving way to city after city

Oil reserves in the earth will be finished, a pity

Chemicals and cars polluting the air we breathe

And plastics if not recycled will claim the ground underneath.

So go green, go green my friends and unite

To save this mother earth from this horrible plight

Plant trees so we notice less of the climate change of today

Which cause sudden floods and droughts in the world these days

Use the water carefully so we do not finish it all as is said

By the ground water table, lest our kids have none instead

Do not pollute the air with too many industries and cars

Learn to balance as balance is the secret of this earth of ours.

Plastics cannot be burnt as the gases given are harmful to us

So recycle and make sure they go in the right bin without a fuss.

 

Going Green - Howard Lambe

Plastic bags were once the rage

But now we have turned the page

Our love of plastic is changing to hate

As our precious planet we have to save

Automobiles will need to change

From petrol and diesel to electric power

If this doesn't happen the air we breathe

Will poison us all and life expectation dire

Reduction of cattle herds is a must

To lesson the effect of methane gas

Thousands of trees will need to be planted

To combat C.O2 emissions to our advantage

Coal is almost a forgotten memory

Wind turbines and solar energy have taken its place

Next to go will be wood burners as they too emit noxious fumes

The green revolution is gathering pace

Going Green is spreading across the globe

More and more countries are coming on board

In time with hope this emergency will become a common cause

And the earth will be saved our descendants future assured

 

 

      GOING GREEN By Atiya Saithna

For Going Green do not be selfish and mean

You have to be keen not to be mean

Use the colour coded bins Brown, Blue and Green

Help the council to get to go Green

The fish in the water needs to be edible

Other creatures to be adorable

The greens need to be fresh

Meat needs to be an occasional treat

Have this protein as a feast

Let’s take care of our beautiful planet Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

For we are here to enjoy it and not ruin it with our litter

Lets keep our Earth Let’s go Green

But we are so very mean we are selfish and unclean

Stop the plastic pollution stop using it

Plastic bags, bottles and boxes are not worthy the toxic

Rubbish here and rubbish there walking near Pinner farms

The plastic bags fly into my arm the tin cans by the fence

How can we defend

Our beautiful planet is going to die

 Unless we all decide to fly high

In Going Green ,think green, act green and live green

To see the greatest planet ever seen.

 

 

MARGARET REILLY 

Whew what a day! She was glad to be home

But oh no what a greeting a bill or two and a messy kitchen with rubbish askew

Like she didn't have enough to do!

Sifting the recycling from the rubbish then carrying it through

Muttering angrily what shed say to a few

Finally coming to her blue bin where she posted her papers and cardboard

Along to pastures new

And then followed her old jam jars washed and sparkling like new

Not to mention an empty wine bottle or two

Suddenly she noticed her mood was improving

What on earth made this procedure so soothing?

Was it the satisfaction of doing her bit for the environment

Or seeing the abundance of her life of to cycles new

Well whatever it was she returned to the house full of vigour anew

Time to prepare dinner and save all her peels

Maybe say a prayer of thanks for the lovely meal that they'd have

And all those that they'd had!

 

GOING GREEN by Rose Wilson

Though Earth is in its infancy and should be in the pink

Mankind has wiped out species and pushed others to the brink

The Dodo was a fearless bird, too friendly to its cost.

We fail to value what we have until the thing is lost

Black smoke enshrouds the Amazon, it signals a stark warning

As grieving Mother Nature clothes herself in partial mourning

Our precious blue planet is understandably that hue

Abused, raped and poisoned by the likes of me and you

Each time we leave a light on, use another plastic bag

Or buy a bigger, faster, car, or light another fag

Earth’s fragile ecosystem is put under yet more strain

Diminishing the ozone and producing acid rain

We’re all in this together, whether a cobbler or the Queen

We can only have a future that’s sustainable and green

As the death knell tolls for the receding of the poles

And Pollutants stir emotions in the oceans of our souls

Could we reverse the damage to the Great Barrier Reef?

What if by an outpouring of our combined global grief

We create a vast tsunami of tears with which to clean

Our bloodstained hands, then turn the tide by opting to go green?

 

Going Green by Shreya Tanna

Tar black factory fumes rising rapidly ahead, crushed water bottles guarding an azure seabed

Shopping bags tangled in a bluebird’s delicate wings, litter in their nest - they no longer sing

A beautiful forest habitat on a lush tropical island, uprooted and urbanised - an unwise choice by Man

Carbon emissions clouding already foggy heads, our ever giving planet soon to be dead

Should we choose not to nurture and offer her love, our health and wellness will venture in a downward curve

Recycling bins  full of less plastic than the sea, and yet we claim to be intelligent with regard to humanity

Simply unaware adult visions impact young minds, our planet needs help - it’s not hard to read between the lines

Increasing global temperatures and melting ice caps, our generation falling into a foul contaminated trap

The youths of today, the forefront of society, Eyes glued upon devices so intently

Less time spent caring for Earth, in all her humble glory, assisting her genially with the continuation of her story

Replanting each flower and tree we uproot from her skin, rebirthing the ground, so selfish ideas don't win

Our duty to respond to Earth’s unsubtle pleas, reducing waste and walking in attempt to 'Go Green'

 

 

  •  
  •                                                     Going Green

by Ian Herne

  •  
  •                                    
  •                                               The planet is dying.
  •                                           I'm mortified, not lying.
  •  
  •                                           Methane and fossil fuels
  •                                       Are thrown in the air like balls.
  •  
  •                                     But balls come down with gravity
  •                                     While the gases mix with alacrity.
  •  
  •                             Going green means thinking and caring
  •                                 Not turning our backs and swearing.
  •  
  •                       Remember the garden, the birds and the bees
  •                           We must keep them forever, forever please.
  •  
  •                               Recycling, reusing, and enthusing
  •                             About the planet we love, and refusing
  •  
  •                       To tolerate plastic in oceans and wrapping
  •                       On foods, clothing and machines, trapping
  •  
  •                   Our minds into thinking it's okay to keep doing
  •               Mindless, unnecessary acts of vandalism while ruing
  •  
  •                   The day we all learnt that our world was in danger
  •                 Of falling and failing our children like an evil stranger.
  •  
  •                   So we must go green, fight the march to kingdom come,
  •         Reuse, recycle, repurpose, oust coal, deep fracking and restore the
  •                                                 crumb of hope.
  •  

 

 

Going Green by Jeffery A Edmunds

 

I looked it up on the internet

I mean, it’s a big subject

From battery cars to solar panels

Saving power at home: less use of

lights, computer, TV channels

Then there’s your “carbon

footprint.” How often you fly,

drive the car, take a bus, train

Won’t you try to walk more, use

“pedal power” when you can?

Compost your waste food, sort

your waste for recycling. Plant

a tree, scattering bug-friendly

wild flowers and green things

Re-use your containers, old tins

One thing more to try, if you can

Campaign against war, conflict. War

burns: destroys lives, more than all

you can ever save. Get government

to wake up to peace initiatives

 

Have a good month and don't forget to enter the Family Tree competition.

Judy