Synergy

Little by little we’re spoiling our planet,
killing earth and sea and all that’s in it.
Anthropogenic carelessness and greed
creeping destruction:
gross deformation
species’ extinction.
Chemical weapons left after wars,
dropped overboard
in drums to corrode,
the contents dispersed
out of sight topsides.
Not safe; not sorry.

Nuclear waste, domestic detritus
dumped willy nilly by the unrighteous
to moulder, spread its evil,
in deepest depths or tourist beaches.
Nations confer and legislate,
against the damage already done.

We invented plastics for
packaging and gadgetry –
practical barbarity?
Wherever we look
we see the synthetic,
the ersatz, the tacky.
Ground-down remnants
ingested by ocean life
terminate, exterminate.

Plastification irresistible
produced the indestructible.
Culpable.
Mermaid’s Tears…
the Plastisphere

synergy \SIN-er-jee\, noun: The interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc.; synergism.

Since writing my poem earlier today, I came across this in an interesting blog :  Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the deep sea is defined as “the common heritage of mankind”.  In other environments – such as the Moon – that same legal definition has been interpreted to prohibit the exploitation of resources, at least for now.  But plans are already being made as to how mining permissions can be allocated.  It will be necessary for companies wishing to exploit deep sea resources to be sponsored by countries that have signed up to UNCLOS.  The USA has not, (why not?) but many US companies are multi-national, so it will be easy for them to find a sponsor elsewhere.