If you’ve been following this blog you might have seen my past posts struggling with this new role I inherited as a “climate change poet” since my performance at the United Nations Climate Summit last September. All last year I fought with myself as I considered what this role, what these responsibilities, would now mean. I’ve always embraced my role… Read More
Luerkoklik and the Role of the Land in the Climate Movement
Just last week I published a blog post to the site hehiale.wordpress.com – this is a blog site of an amazing collective of Pacific writers sharing stories, poetry, and songs on struggle and activism. The blog I posted about is the role of the land in the climate movement. I had just been visited by a CNN reporter who asked… Read More
A few thoughts on pacific literature
Recently I was asked by two former poetry mentors of mine to be interviewed for their research. Their research focused on the art of spoken word in the Pacific, with an emphasis on the organization that I count myself a part of – Pacific Tongues. One of the questions they asked struck me. They basically asked what are some of… Read More
Why College of the Marshall Islands is divesting from fossil fuels – and why your institution should too
A few weeks ago I was called into the office of the President of the College of the Marshall Islands (CMI) Carl Hacker, to discuss his big announcement: that he would be pushing for CMI to divest from fossil fuels. All we need next is approval from the Board of Regents, which could possibly happen within a few weeks. “It… Read More
An apology to Taro Islanders and Solomon Islanders
I have to admit that I’ve been putting off writing this particularly blog post for a while now. It’s hard to admit when you make a huge mistake, and it’s even worse when you do it on a global scale. So here goes nothing. I wrote a poem, two months ago, called “dear matafele peinam” dedicated to my daughter, speaking on… Read More
Three Weeks after the UN Climate Summit or Coming Home to a Climate Reality
*This is an article I originally wrote for the UN-Non-Governmental Liason Services E-Magazine, three weeks after returning home from the United Nations Summit. It has been three weeks since I spoke and performed “Dear Matafele Peinam” at the United Nations opening of the Climate Summit. Three weeks, and still I am processing the amazing whirlwind that was the few days… Read More
