If you feel overwhelmed or frustrated by news about environmental crisis and literature on ecological disaster, here's some more. In the spirit of World Environment Day, Kim and Hà Trang explore works by two authors who can't be more outspoken about conserving and protecting nature, W. S. Merwin and Yoko Tawada.
Whereas "For a Coming Extinction" by Merwin comments on the Anthropocence and how ironical the relationship between humans and nature can be, The Last Children of Tokyo paints a bleak picture of an imagined future where, thanks to irreversible contamination from nuclear activities, elders cannot die and children are too weak to survive into adulthood. Our message is straightforward: if we don't change now, we will leave our own future behind.
