I used to have dreams,

And once I had hope

My spirit was strong,

And I never gave up

I loved to imagine,

And had many ideas

The wind whispered to me,

And her voice I could hear

 

Then something happened,

And everything changed

A cloud blocked the sun,

And there it remained

My spirit is gone

The wind had died down

I no longer dream

I let myself drown

 

I have been taken,

And tortured and bound

I don't have my life

I don't hear the sound,

Of laughter and joy

Or anything else

I don't feel the touch,

Of my dreams, of my hopes

 

I am just a shell

I have nothing left

I am as empty,

As an old bird's nest

I may continue to breathe

And my heart still beats,

But my soul is gone

I am incomplete.

I sit beside the fire and think

  of all that I have seen,

of meadow-flowers and butterflies

  in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer

  in autumns that there were,

with morning mist and silver sun

  and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think

 of how the world will be

when winter comes without a spring

  that I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things

  that I have never seen:

in every wood in every spring

  there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think

  of people long ago,

and people who will see a world

  that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think

  of times there were before,

I listen for returning feet

  and voices at the door.

"For in the end it is Middle-Earth and its dwellers that we love, not Tolkien's considerable gifts in showing it to us. I said once that the world he charts was there long before him, and I still believe it. He is a great enough magician to tap our most common nightmares, daydreams and twilight fancies, but he never invented them either: he found them a place to live, a green alternative to each day's madness here in a poisoned world. We are raised to honor all the wrong explorers and discoverers. Let us at last praise the colonizers of dreams

Global warming isn’t opinion. It’s a scientific reality. And the science tells us that human activity has made enormous impacts to our planet that affect our well-being and even our survival as a species.

The world’s leading science journals report that glaciers are melting ten times faster than previously thought, that atmospheric greenhouse gases have reached levels not seen for millions of years, and that species are vanishing as a result of climate change. They also report of extreme weather events, long-term droughts, and rising sea levels.

Fortunately, the science also tells us how we can begin to make significant repairs to try and reverse those impacts, but only through immediate action.

Hours mean no more or less than years.
A moment is a point with no dimension.
People count to undermine their fears,
Persuaded numbers lead to comprehension.
Yet time is an illusion of our motion,
No realer than the rising of the sun.
Each line we draw rests on a restless ocean,
Way, way beyond the scope of more than One.
Years do not begin and never end
Except for purposes of calibration.
A need to share our yearnings, friend to friend,
Requires just one point of celebration.