The following poems about the environment and the climate crisis are appropriate for elementary, middle, and high school readers.
lesson plans about the environment
“As a Portent” by David Baker
At least there was a…
“Kid, this is the first rain” by Jeffrey Bean
of November. It strips off the rest…
“Echolocation” by Sally Bliumis-Dunn
The whales can’t hear each other calling…
“Leave No Trace” by Maggie Dietz
No gate, no main entrance, no ticket, no ranger…
“Characteristics of Life” by Camille T. Dungy
Ask me if I speak for the snail and I will tell you…
“Landing Under Water, I See Roots” by Annie Finch
All the things we hide in water…
“Remember” by Joy Harjo
Remember the sky that you were born under…
“Speaking Tree” by Joy Harjo
Some things on this earth are unspeakable….
“Micro-minutes on Your Way to Work” by Brenda Hillman
Days are unusual. The owl sends…
“Song for the Turtles in the Gulf” by Linda Hogan
We had been together so very long…
“Well Water” by Randall Jarrell
What a girl called “the dailiness of life”…
“I Want to Save This Whale” by Lisa Olstein
The one right in front of me…
“Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now” by Matthew Olzmann
Most likely, you think we hated the elephant…
“Some Effects of Global Warming in Lackawanna County” by Jay Parini
The maples sweat now, out of season…
“Thirteen Ways of Looking at Glacier (after Wallace Stevens)” by Craig Santos Perez
Among starving polar bears…
“Art Project: Earth” by Karen Skolfield
Balloon, then papier maché…
“Earth Your Dancing Place” by May Swenson
Beneath heaven’s vault…
“The Shapes of Leaves” by Arthur Sze
Ginkgo, cottonwood, pin oak, sweet gum, tulip tree…