For the inauguration of the 12th president of Cornell University, David Skorton, Ithaca poets were asked to contribute to a small volume of poetry in his honor. The title of the volume, taken from a poem by Kenneth McClane, was Like a Fragile Index of the World. The poem was not about climate change, but it was inspired by the struggle of a glowworm to climb a branch.
I found myself thinking about that little book and its title when I heard President Trump announce that he was “erasing” the scientific finding that climate change endangers health and the environment. The federal government, he stated, no longer has legal authority to control the pollution caused by burning fossil fuels. It was a curious choice of words. The president can undermine scientific findings, but he cannot erase them. He cannot, for example, erase the fact that the earth is round, not flat. He can simply deny it.
Amidst the flood of unauthorized actions and pronouncements by a president who appears to wish Americans were still living in the 1950s with an apparently boundless supply of the world’s resources at their disposal, the announcement was simply one more shocking reversal of the country’s commitment to scientific and humanitarian progress. And yet, it was perhaps the most flagrant and deadly attack on science and verifiable truth since this administration took office.
We live in one of the most beautiful and unspoiled regions of the earth, surrounded by forests and pristine waterways, but we are the unfortunate citizens of a wider world that is getting hotter every year. Even Americans who approve of this administration are aware that temperatures are rising, storms are becoming more severe and glaciers are melting. Some may doubt the connection between a changing climate and the use of fossil fuels, but even the automobile companies of this country are investing in alternative sources of power. Climate change caused by the increased use of fossil fuels is endangering every plant, animal and human on earth. And as more species become extinct and others struggle to survive, even a glowworm inching up a branch becomes a fragile index of the world.
Professor Holst-Warhaft is an Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Classics, Comparative Literature and Near Eastern Studies. She is also Director of the Mediterranean Studies Initiative and Faculty Associate of the Cornell Center for a Sustainable Future. She can be reached at glh3@cornell.edu.
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