The Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University are launching Earth Stanzas, an interactive poetry project in honor of Earth Day, which is celebrated around the world on April 22. Earth Stanzas draws on the inspiration of eight poets who engage the beauty, depth and interconnectedness of the Earth, and invites readers to interact with the poems and find their own poetic voice.
Each model poem and its prompt invites participants to reflect on their relationship to the Earth and to share their voice in an online gallery. Another feature of the project invites readers to use the Wick Poetry Center’s Emerge™ web-based app to create their own digital “erasure” poem from a pool of primary texts, including excerpts from an International Panel on Climate Change report, historical documents such as the Haudenosaunee Address to the Western World and Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis, Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, celebrated in 1970 when 20 million Americans gathered across the country to raise awareness to the growing destruction of our planet. Earth Day led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. Fifty years later, as these protections are threatened, we again must sound the alarm for dynamic action to be taken, Earth Stanzas organizers say.
“In this unprecedented time of planetary crisis, it is important to remember the beauty of the world, the wonder of nature, and the deep connection we have to it and each other,” said David Hassler, director of Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center. “This is why on the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, we are offering this platform for the creation of Earth Stanzas and asking your networks to help us spread the word. Please join us along with Poets for Science, the Academy of American Poets, the Climate Museum, Earth Day Network and many others.”
For more information about Earth Stanzas, visit www.earthstanzas.com.
The Center for Earth Ethics is a forum for education, public discourse and movement building that draws on faith and wisdom traditions to address our ecological crisis and its root causes at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. For more information about the Center for Earth Ethics, visit https://centerforearthethics.org.
The Wick Poetry Center, in Kent State University’s College of Arts and Sciences, is home to the award-winning Traveling Stanzas project, and is one of the premier university poetry centers in the country. It is a national leader for the range, quality and innovative outreach in the community. For more information about Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center, visit www.kent.edu/wick.
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The Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University are launching Earth Stanzas, an interactive poetry project in honor of Earth Day.
Media Contacts:
David Hassler, Director, Wick Poetry Center, Kent State University: dhassle1@kent.edu, 330-221-9913
Andrew Schwartz, Deputy Director, Center for Earth Ethics: aschwartz@centerforearthethics.org, 541-760-2067