Once upon a time
The Earth was lined with trees and plants
And the air was fresh and fine
Then we came by
And produced
Carbon dioxide!
Through making what we want
Like
Batteries, and smartphones and chips
And TVs,
And circuits
And wiring assemblies!
We put boron and phosphorus
(which are poisonous)
Onto silicon and gallium arsenide
To make Semiconductors!
And copper on epoxy
To make circuits
And attached tin-lead alloys to the surface!
And we produced hydrochloric acid,
and sulphuric acid
heavy metals,
and organic solvents. Then the sky
started coughing
and the air we breathed
gave us pneumonia, bronchitis
and irritation to the nose, throat and skin
and damage to our nerves, brain, lungs, liver and kidneys.
Then the clouds started crying
With Acid Rain!
with Nitrogen oxides (NOx)
And Sulfur Dioxides
It killed the fish
And lines of trees
Poisoned the air
(which, in past times,
Had been fine)
Now, this seemed to be a sign
From nature
That what we were doing was a crime
But did we stop?
No, we scampered up the ladder
We were never meant to climb!
and released heavy metals
Like chromium
And cadmium
Into the soil and the sea
Which killed the fish in the short-term
Or stayed in the soil and the sea
To harm us in the long-term!
And waste organic solvents!
Like Phosphorus oxychloride
From factories, that was release outside
After stages of electronic manufacture
Into the seas and the river
Which deco-composed in water
To form hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid
To make it even badder!
And in Washington
People’s bones and kidneys were poisoned
With cadmium
From Cathode Ray Tubes
And in Guiyu,
In China
80 per cent
of The children faced
Lead poisoning
And people faced skin damage
Headaches
Vertigo, nausea, gastric and duodenal ulcers,
And chronic gastritis
Especially among migrants
Who recycle circuit boards and plastic
chronic gastritis, and gastric and duodenal ulcers, especially among migrants who recycle circuit boards and plastic.
And in Delhi,
The people were poisoned by mercury
And brominated flame retardants
Which disrupted hormonal functions
And they got asthma, brain and kidney damage, and skin diseases

Once upon a time,
The earth was lined with trees and plants
And the air was fresh and fine
But because of our kind
The earth will soon die
So we need to save it now
And I will tell you how!
First, proper protective gear
Should be worn during manufacture
To minimise exposure
To heavy metals,
Acids,
And organic solvents!

And Reduce use of electronics, there’s no excuse
And don’t just throw away old gadgets,
Cuz that’s just spoiling the planet
Recycle your trash or trash your Earth
Cuz when you refuse to reuse,
It’s our Earth you abuse.