In preparation for our special Manifesto For Essex Exhibition we invited young people and the ‘young at heart’ to contribute a special Earth Poem to be displayed in one of our participating venues.

Below is a selection of the Earth Poems we received which were displayed in shop windows in Chelmsford City Centre as part of Heritage Open Days, in partnership with One Chelmsford, Chelmsford City Council, Chelmsford Community Radio and Essex 2020.

What is the Manifesto For Essex?
The Manifesto For Essex was created for young people and the ‘young at heart’ as a creative platform for them to share thoughts and ideas on what we can do to protect the planet.

Find out more about our Manifesto For Essex activities.

Our Earth

By Anabelle Stephenson, Deneholm Primary School

Leonard’s Lunch

Leonard’s lunch lurks in the great garbage patch:
Flimsy and floaty – his favourite catch?
A marine world flooded with trillions of trash;
Leonard’s decade-old belly sadly home to a stash.

Leonard hatched on a tropical nesting beach –
His instinct to scarper, the swash nearly in reach.
A warm ocean current his dream gracefully to ride,
His cute, little turtle friends close by his side.

But Leonard’s not swimming his hatchling dream,
For a rising wave of rubbish is nothing but mean.
So now poor innocent Leonard loses a limb,
Sliced by fishing gear discarded on a whim.

Hopes of reaching a century of turtle years
Are now awash with worry and plastic fears.
Easily blown by wind and swept by rivers,
Plastic pollutes oceans, so their life withers.

Leonard’s not had a jellyfish lookalike lesson;
It’s Nature’s unnecessary guilty confession.
So Leonard’s lunch looms large like death
Ready to snatch cruelly his very last breath.

But it’s Leonard’s world, Leonard’s home,
Leonard’s ocean for Leonard safely to roam.
A drifting obstacle course of plastic is so unfair;
It’s definitely now a sea turtle’s worst nightmare…

So using a lifelong bag will do him a big favour;
Think of Leonard’s underwater world – never waver.
Then, when Leonard is 100, ready for birthday lunch,
Only flimsy, floaty jellyfish he’ll find to munch.

By Linda Middleton ©



Nests in tree
Acorns falling
Trees growing
Under the stars
Rabbits hop
Everything is beautiful

Everyone
All people
Respect the world
That we call
Home

By Tom and Eleanor

What If…

I see…
Streets Decorated with litter,
Seas consumed with trash,
Landscapes with no space for creature or critter,
A future destined to crash.

I see…
Forests losing all their trees,
Jungles engulfed with flickering fire,
The decline in biodiversity and the encroaching extinction of bees,
The situation is quite dire.

I see…
The air thick with suffocating pollution,
The Sky shrouded with smog,
The urgent need for a solution,
Billowing clouds of fog.

I know…
That the earth is becoming sick,
That the Earth is growing more and more ill,
That this news isn’t some cruel joke or trick
and there’s no immediate cure – no magic pill.

I know…
we want to fix the Earth’s problems with some amazing lotion or potion
and then call it a day,
But what if we listen to the notion
that we can save the Earth in a different way?

What if…
We join each other in using our imagination
to prove that on the horizon there is hope?

What if…
we harness our powers of creation
in order to discover how to help the world cope?

We must…
Save this glorious land,
this beautiful planet we’re so lucky to call home
With its icy tundra’s and hot beaches of sand,
All across the globe – from London to Beijing to Brazil to New York to Rome.

I know…
We can do this if we all work together,
For the environment we’ll tidy up our act and make our lives greener,
We’ll build a future that’s brighter and better forever,
Reduce landfill and make oceans cleaner.

Together…
We’ll achieve this dream,
show the environment our endless thanks and gratitude,
we can do it if we act fast and as a team,
With a kind and caring attitude.

Thank you, Earth

By Frances Hudson