TRAVEL TUESDAY 570 - TUVALU

“Climate change is the greatest threat to our existence in our short history on this planet. Nobody’s going to buy their way out of its effects.” Mark Ruffalo

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us.

Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Tuvalu is an independent South Pacific island nation located roughly midway between Hawaii and Australia, widely known as one of the smallest and most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. Spanning just 26 square kilometres of total land area across three reef islands and six coral atolls, it is the world's fourth-smallest sovereign state and houses a population of roughly 11,500 people.

Most of the nation sits a mere 2 to 4 metres above sea level, leaving it completely devoid of rivers or lakes. Fresh water is obtained exclusively through rain catchment systems and wells. Because of its low elevation, Tuvalu faces an existential threat from rising sea levels. Estimates suggest that flooding and storm surges could cost the nation upwards of US$34 million annually by 2050. The government has already formulated digital and physical preservation plans, alongside migration pathways, should the islands become entirely uninhabitable.

Tuvalu achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 1 October 1978. It operates as a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, recognising King Charles III as its head of state. In a landmark treaty ratified with Australia, the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union commits Australia to providing security and disaster relief. Crucially, it features a special mobility pathway granting up to 280 permanent resident visas annually for Tuvalu citizens to relocate to Australia as climate refugees.

Tuvalu has one of the smallest economies globally. It relies heavily on international development aid, fishing licences, remittances from seafarers working abroad, and the licensing of its lucrative .tv internet domain extension. The Australian Dollar (AUD) is the official legal tender alongside local Tuvaluan coins. The local population is primarily of Polynesian descent, speaking both Tuvaluan and English.

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VALE, JANE GOODALL

“We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form.” - William Inge

This week, the New What’s Up blog commemorates the life and death of Jane Goodall, a primatologist and anthropologist who dedicated her life to studying primates and advocating conservation and climate action. Here is my offering.

Talk to the Animals

To treat each living thing
As if your life depends on it
Is a hard task, and few of us
Try to live by such a rule
And hope to succeed.

Living, respecting nature,
Trying to leave this world
A better place than what you found,
Is a life-long commitment
And one peppered with failures.

To live your life in harmony
With what’s around you:
Trees, animals, lakes, streams,
Sea, fish, air and earth,
Is a momentous undertaking.

Yet, so many amongst us
Venture forth and dedicate
Their life to doing good,
Saving the bounty given us
With utmost care and stewardship.

Thank those angels on earth,
Who came and tried to save us:
Jane, David, Jacques, Ralph,
Chief Seattle, Theodore, Wangari,
Rachel, Chico, Margaret…

Talk to the animals and learn,
To do what comes naturally,
No waste, no undue harm,
No ravaging of earth’s resources,
A web of life, perpetuating life...

SERENITY...

“Surely we have a responsibility to leave for future generations a planet that is healthy and habitable by all species” - Sir David Attenborough

The prompt from “Poets and Storytellers United” this week is to write something about “something with both spooky and summery themes”. I am watching with horror the terrible Summer wildfires in Europe, the worsening situation in Israel/Gaza, the ongoing war in Ukraine. I see the world leaders of many countries blithely following a path of totalitarianism and self-interest, ignoring a looming climate catastrophe and a path leading to more warfare… I look at the increasing destruction of world wilderness areas, the effects of our pollution, and our thoughtless use of natural resources, and yes, I am spooked by all this…

Serenity...

The news is bleak, the world is marred,
We live in fear, our lives are scarred.
Our leaders crazy, and the people crazed
Crime, greed and murder, society’s razed.

The planet’s suffering, the climate’s changed
Animals dying, nature’s deranged.
Fires are raging, floods drowning each city,
While nature’s turned on us with no pity.

All that I wish for is peace, serenity,
And all I get is conflict, obscenity.
All that I need is a home and love,
And what I get is bombs from above.
Oh, please, give me serenity!

Oceans are poisoned, rivers polluted,
Species extinct, resources looted;
The air is toxic, our water’s blighted
The people uncaring, deeply benighted.

The threat of war, total destruction,
The earth beset by an evil fluxion;
We dread the worse but choose inaction
It’s time to shake off vapid abstraction.

All that I wish for is peace and quiet,
And all I get is conflict, evil, riot.
All that I need is care, affection
And what I get is scorn, rejection.
Oh, please, no more disquiet!

All that I wish for is peace, serenity,
Give me true justice, give me lenity…
Oh, please, give me serenity!

This poem is set to music, and you can find all references to my music in my “Otidorchestre” channel, or listen to it on YouTube,  Spotify,  Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.

Please note that the song has been submitted to music sharing sites, but there is a variable period of delay until the song is publicly released. YouTube is generally the most prompt.