State of the Planet by Robert Hass

This poem is, on a shallow description, the story of a little girl who is waiting to cross a street on a rainy day. She has a book in here bag called Getting to Know Your Planet and the poem goes on to say what the book describes inside. Hass goes beyond that though and explains what should be in the book too.
It is clear throughout the poem that the author is addressing environmental issues, but it was in an unexpected format, at least for me. It doesn’t seem like he is talking to the reader, but to an outsider, a visitor to Earth; I do not mean in a weird “Area 51 alien” sort of way either. There was very much a tone of melancholy throughout the poem that is infective. Hass seems to be mourning over the treatment of the planet (which he has every right to do so) and over the ignorance of the inhabitants. We are doing things that destroy our planet and we know they do (cars), but we also have things that not everybody realizes cause harm, so it is considered accidental (refrigerators). We selfishly exploit this beautiful gift not realizing the beauty it already possesses.
I like how he adds the part in about everything seeming like a dream. It doesn’t seem like it is real, like the earth cannot be going to this sort of state. If it gets too bad surely we will wake up. Sadly this is the view of a lot of people; some of them may not even realize it. People think the things they do don’t affect them, so why should they care? This poem sends a reality check out to everyone: it is easy to just tell ourselves what we want to hear to make everything have a happy ending, but the truth is it still does not change reality; actions do have consequences.