Change

            Throughout the book, Turtle Island, by Gary Snyder, many of the poems include the theme of change.  Snyder often suggests the way people are treating the world right now is not acceptable and life like this cannot continue or there will not be a world to live in in the future.  People’s habits must change and they must change now.  Some examples of these habits include the amount of pollution, the growing number of people on earth, and the rate of consumption.  If humans learn to control their global footprint and attempt to lower it, the world will slowly become a better place to live.

            Snyder’s poem “For the Children” begins with an image of rising statistics.  He uses words like “rising hills” and “slopes” to infer that the rises are both large and significant.  These rises are likely the rise in global temperature, population over the years, and the amount of resources people use today.  He then says while all of these statistics are going up, the planet is going down and can no longer sustain this way of life.  People believe in the future we will have solutions to these problems and live on perfect pastures and in perfect valleys.  However, this future is much closer than people think and so far the solutions to the problems have not been made.  Snyder suggests everyone should work together to overcome the struggles.  He says to learn about the earth and its conditions; what caused the problems and what still is causing to problems must be known.  At the end of the poem, he tells the reader to “go light.”  He is saying to go out and change the negative things which are happening and create a new and better world.

            Snyder continues this theme of change in the poem “Tomorrows Song.”  He starts the poem off by saying people have not cared for the nature around them.  Fresh mountain air and rivers have been polluted, trees have been cut down in excess to make paper, animals killed for fun, and their habitats destroyed.  Snyder suggests that the change which needs to be made is independence.  People need to stop relying on resources like fossil fuels, and large companies which mass produce products.  Instead he says without them, the people of earth will be stronger.

            The poem “Spel Against Demons” follows the theme of change as well.  First, Snyder speaks of “demonic energies” which must be stopped, referring to air pollution and trash.  These gasses and chemicals can no longer be released into the air and dropped into water sources.  Next, “blood sacrifice” must be stopped, meaning hunting animals for fun cannot continue.  These animals are the planets food resources, and cannot be mistreated or unappreciated.  The last demon Snyder says must be stopped is self-indulgence.  Snyder is speaking of human’s selfishness and materialism.  Many humans over indulge and want as much of anything they can have.  Humans can no longer live like this because all of the resources are going to be diminished from pollution, over hunting of food, and over use of items.  Snyder then goes on to suggest that people who know how terrible these practices are do not commit them, so people must be educated of their danger.  The people who continue the practices must be stopped and everyone must work to become independent of the resources.

            The majority of Gary Snyder’s poems throughout Turtle Island are about nature, a dominant theme being change.  He believes the way people are living is not healthy for the planet and these habits must be changed immediately.  Earth is delicate and must be taken care of.  People need to start thinking of the consequences of their actions and need to change their negative practices into positive ones.