From its idealistic beginnings to what is become one of the most celebrated global events of the year, Earth Day is a rare phenomenon of our modern age; a single day where the importance of empire and capital are secondary to the health and preservation of the planet, a day where 193 countries from around the world are united by this most universal bond of existence.
 
Since 1970, we celebrate April 22nd as a day of environmental awareness, advocacy, and appreciation. Recent years have also seen an increased emphasis on political policy reform in the face of impending climate disaster. The 2016 Paris Climate Agreement, for example, saw signatories from around the world coming together in their pledge to ensure a safe and sustainable planet for all.
 
The effects of climate change, like those of a global pandemic, are and will continue to be felt across every corner of the planet. We can be heartened by the universal support for vaccination research, dissemination, and safe social policy that has overtaken society over these past many months, if only to show that we are capable of so much more, that in the face of financial collapse we left no stone unturned in our fight to overcome the coronavirus. This too shall pass, but the work of defending our planet is ever-demanding and will require an equally impassioned effort.
 
As part of our continued Earth Day celebrations, Peace Partners will showcase environmental poetry throughout the month of April. From Nicaragua to Palestine, from Indonesia to the United States, we have carefully selected work that speaks to our universality and the global necessity of climate action. We begin with famed poet and environmentalist W.S. Merwin and his timely appeal, “One Story”:

In March 1999, UNESCO formally recognised the imperative need for poetry in the modern age. Now for more than two decade, March 21st has come to represent our global literary community as few other events ever could, and to promote the preservation of regional poetic cultures around the world.
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It is a day to recognise the long, storied legacy of poetry through every stage of human history; from landscapes of Ancient Greece to the wartime writings of Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva and the forlorn beauty of Turkish exile Nazim Hikmet. Poets have been the very eyes and ears of time, speaking truth and beauty for the heart of unknown generations to come.

Poetry, through its many oral and written traditions, offers a human chronicle of our shared existence. Where modern accounts of history will recall the political winners and casualties of conflict, it is the poet's rendering that will speak to the truly human experience of war, peace, and perseverance.

In honour of International Poetry Day, and as part of our ongoing effort to elevate new and/or foreign voices with English readers, we are delighted to share a poem from revered Pakistani Urdu poet Kishwar Naheed: