Written after the BBC revealed in February that large parts of the Amazon Rainforest are being illegally sold on Facebook.
Despite its reach, power and wealth, currently Facebook has refused to take action over the selling.
With a net worth of $527 billion, (that’s $527,000,000,000), and 3.3 billion users using one of its products every month, we should ask ourselves, has greed become everything for this company at our planets’ expense. Should we allow a company like this to become unaccountable for its actions just because we use their apps, and if we react, we might be prevented from using ‘their’ platforms.

Facebook!
On you, we call time,
You, server of people,
Face and space provider
Voice of the world.
You’re no longer trending.
A new profile name
You deserve,
I call you
‘The Great Colluder
World Abuser’

I post message
To all you users
Time to unlike your provider,
As you post thoughts and pics’
Of dogs and dinner.
‘Ticker’ says,
Real time event!
Vast forests are falling,
Wake up!
See through thin veneer,
Your providers’ colluding.

Amazon Forest,
Fast selling.
On Facebook,
Highest bidders’ buying.
Post it to page,
Pin it to top,
Tell the Story of our rage,
Tag your friends,
Post your views.
‘To what end?’
‘The chainsaw’s stop.’

Unfriend this leviathan
Whose profile picture,
Should be the burning
Of your children’s future.
Notification, just in,
With great profit,
Social responsibility slips,
Moral obligation slides.
‘What, Our duty? Bahh,
All this guilt is wearing thin.’
But your total Likes are descending.

Facebook, take heed,
We serve you notice.
Reset your timeline.
Be not a destroyer
Of world’s greatest forest,
Of the air we breathe,
Of indigenous people,
Of children’s future,
Of the planet you inhabit.
Else, Milestone become Tombstone.

Right click, delete.

For more in-depth information on the illegal selling of huge areas of the Amazon Rainforest read the BBC article written by Joao Fellet & Charlotte Pamment

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56272379

Then make your voice heard. Tell them you don’t approve on Facebook; they can’t ban everyone it would be too costly for them! Tell them that they have a collective responsibility to ensure they leave an inhabitable world for their children.

For those who don’t know – some Facebook Terminology

Your Profile
Collection of stories, photos, and pictures that tell your story.
Message
Similar to an email message, they appear in your Facebook inbox.
Tag
A tag links a person, Page or place to something you post.
Post
Facebook Posts are public messages posted to a Facebook user’s entire audience or on a person’s specific Profile Page or ‘Wall’.
Like
Clicking Like gives positive feedback.
Unlike
Is to reverse the above and provide negative feedback.
Ticker
Positioned on the right-hand side of your homepage, it is updated with your friend’s activities in real time.
Timeline
Your timeline is where you can see your posts displayed by date.
Trending
Trending shows you a list of what topics and hashtags are popular and have recently spiked.
Views
The number of times your page was viewed.
Friend
When you add someone as a Friend, you automatically follow that person, and they automatically follow you.
Unfriend
A person does not receive any type of notification if you unfriend them on Facebook.
Milestone 
Special type of page that let’s you highlight key moments in your timeline. Used to share important events.
Pin it to Top
Any post you pin will move to the top of your Page’s timeline and a pin icon will appear in the top right corner of your post.
Story
Facebook Stories are short user-generated photo or video collections that can be uploaded to the user’s Facebook

I wrote this poem because I was struck by the similarities between a fungal infection sweeping through bat colonies in America, and the Coronavirus itself moving at speed through the human population.

Further Information

Seeing colonies of bats hanging, huddling close together on cliffs and in caves, the living next to the dead, with white fungus spreading across their muzzles, babies and adults alike, made me consider the similarities between this, and the effect on the human population of Coronavirus. Watching the news, seeing people on ventilators, families, incapable of helping loved ones, watching them die. The parallels that can be drawn, the part we have played in the spread of both, the possible outcomes, and the effect we have generally on the planet, for me, could clearly be seen.
In America this fungal Infection has caused the death of 90 to 100% percent of colonies infected. According to the U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Service, to date approximately 6.7 million bats have died.
Bats have been linked with the spread of Coronavirus to the human population, but in truth it is our relentless invasion of territory inhabited by them and other animals that may have caused the transmission.
The fungal infection is called White Nose Syndrome, and manifests itself as a white fluffy fungus seen on the nose of the bat, and in the wings, leading to their deterioration. It leads to a change in the chemistry and metabolism of the bat, forcing them to use precious stores of fat stored for hibernation. They then wake up in a normal hibernation cycle desperate to search for food, and consequently die in winter or early spring. Breathing is affected, as are the condition of the wings causing unstable flight patterns and eventually death.
White Nose Syndrome is believed to have been exacerbated by cavers who enter caves, picking up the spores on their clothing and transmitting this to uninfected colonies. The damage to the climate, and wetter seasons also enable the fungus to spread.
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/bat_crisis_white-nose_syndrome/Q_and_A.html
https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/static-page/what-is-white-nose-syndrome
https://www.nps.gov/articles/what-is-white-nose-syndrome.htm#:~:text=White%2Dnose%20syndrome%20(WNS),likely%20exotic%2C%20introduced%20from%20Europe.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-33975-x

The Unwilling

Will we,
The unwilling
Look back,
Upon brief,
Gentler time.
Where we
Slowed, thought,
Felt senses quicken
Tasted true again
Touched the living
Felt heart awaken
Heard World’s Song
Acutely saw,
Life
Leaf
Child.
Where we left
Earth to breathe once more
And know
In this heart, this soul,
Brief moment
Could have endured.

DE – 2020

The Change

Written at the beginning of the Corona virus pandemic in the UK, and the start of the lockdown to try and prevent its spread. It was a strange time where people waited, unsure what was happening, changing their whole pattern of life and attitude toward others. I was struck by how human activity had stopped and yet nature and the world moved on and even began to recover from human activity.

Lockdown …
We Fear
For ourselves,
No longer
So confident.
We,
Quieter now,
The birds
Sing louder.
Bustler
In shopping aisle,
A step
Too close.
Hold breath,
Hold!
Move, exhale,
As trees breath
Deeper.
Passer-by;
Step into road,
Silent road.
Dance around
Fellow threat.
Fox bemused,
Languidly,
Sits on
White line,
Watching
Strange new
Human ritual.

D.E. – March 2020