Poems on Land Pollution

Many poems have been written on the topic of land pollution. Poems have been written that tell of excess litter, toxic waste, soil erosion and the different ways that the planet has been marred. While all land pollution poems deal with the same topic, writers write poems from different perspectives.

Some poems written about land pollution are written from a sociological standpoint, dealing with the effects of land pollution on society. One poet who has published poems on the sociological effects of land pollution is Bunyan Bryant, Ph. D. Bryant's poems deal with the toxic effects that land pollution has upon people. Bryant poems include references to lead, uranium, incinerators, landfills and illnesses that may be attributed to the pollutants spewed out on the planet. (See Reference 1)

Some poems about land pollution are written from poets who do not have an exclusively environmental agenda but are individuals who have the capacity to care about issues in general. These poets, when inspired to write land pollution poetry, write from the heart. One such poet is Mariela Miranda Jenkins who wrote a poem titled "Living in a dumpster". In this poem, Jenkins laments the trashing of the planet as she likens living on earth to living in a dumpster. Jenkins places the blame for the trashing of the planet on the human race in general. (See Reference 3)

In order to build student's awareness of environmental issues as well as inspire creative writing, some school projects involve writing poems on land pollution and pollution in general. Sometimes these poetry school projects are in the form of a contest with the student who writes the best poem winning a prize. An example of an environmental student poem contest is one that was conducted with students on the Caribbean Islands. The poems in the competition speak of the conservation and preservation of the islands. (See Reference 2)

Some land pollution poems are about the heritage of a region. In the poem, "Land of the Sun: Africa", Chidi Okoye writes of Africa. The poem speaks of the riches and beauty of Africa along with the exploitation and the trashing of the continent. The writer points out that Africa's hospitality was rewarded by exploitation and uses strong terms such as 'raped' to describe the polluting of the land. Other land pollution references in the poem refer to Africa as a dumping ground for toxic wastes. (See Reference 4)