Morgan Fish and Carlin Troska - 2023

Artist's Statement

For our final project, we decided to individually write a poem and play our respective instruments over it (Morgan on the guitar and Carlin on the piano). The reason we chose to do poems instead of a musical piece is because of a speech that climate activist Greta Thunberg did with a famous band called The 1975. The subjects of our poems are in contrast with one another. One talks about all the negative effects of humans on the planet and the other talks about the
beauty of the planet and what we as a species can do. We stuck to more of an artistic approach with the poems but gathered information shared throughout the course as well as outside information. The first poem is backed by a piano with a more serious tone, while the second is backed by guitar reinforcing a familiar and optimistic sound and view.

Morgan's Poem

To quote Greta Thunberg, “...homo sapiens have not yet failed. Yes, we are failing, but there is still time to turn everything around. We can still fix this. We still have everything in our own hands.” End Quote. While everything is still in our hands. What are we doing with them? Our hands throw plastic water bottles away that end up in the pacific’s garbage patches. Our hands start fires in the dried up climate of California. Our hands operate mass carbon producing machines that choke the Earth. Our hands drill for oil at the bottom of the ocean, then flood it with toxic chemicals. In the past 50 years, our hands have wiped out 70% of wildlife. 20% of the Amazon RainForest is chopped down by our hands. Half of the Great Barrier Reef is gone due to actions done with human hands. We have systematically been hitting tipping points that harm ourselves and the peaceful globe we live on. The ones we haven’t hit, we inch towards with our unsustainable way of life. We consume products and goods as if our well-being depends on it,
Resources are gone almost as quickly as we find them. We strive to plant ourselves in deforested land rather than replenish what we’ve destroyed. The influence from our political leaders is lacking and even dismissive. Why is the well-being of our planet something we need to debate? Why is the debate whether or not we have the situation under control, when we clearly do not? Political movements in their current state have failed. But homo sapiens have not yet failed.

Carlin's Poem

We do not want to lose our only home
Full of beauty beyond what’s known
Beneath the waves is a world of wonder
A vibrant world - the rainbow down under
The colors bright, the creatures rare
A brilliance that is beyond compare
Our vigorous forests are worlds of mystery
Yet, a treasure trove of natures history
Our beloved animals roam these lush, lively lands
We must protect it - it’s up to human hands

Our home is strong
Our home is kind
We cannot let go
We must degrow
We know how we got here
We know what to do
We know where to go
We have all the tools

Just, sustainable, vibrant
That is our goal
And by design or by disaster
We will make that our home