"Dear Matafele Peinem" () is a poem by the Marshallese poet Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner. Written in English, the poem is a letter to her then seven month old daughter, Matafele Peinem. The poem is most notable for its having been read aloud by Jetn̄il-Kijiner at the opening ceremony of the

2014 UN Climate Summit The Climate Summit 2014 (sometimes also referred to as the Leader's Climate Summit) was a meeting on climate change in New York on September 23, 2014. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced it in September 2013 and invited leaders of governm ...

, held at the

United Nations headquarters zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg , im ...

in New York in September 2014; it received a standing ovation from the gathered delegates which lasted over one minute. The poem's content primarily deals with the global

climate crisis ''Climate crisis'' is a term describing global warming and climate change, and their impacts. The term and the alternative term ''climate emergency'' have been used to describe the threat of global warming to humanity (and their planet), and to u ...

which, via

rising sea levels Rising may refer to: * Rising, a stage in baking - see Proofing (baking technique) *Elevation * Short for Uprising, a rebellion Film and TV * "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), the series premiere of the science fiction television program ''Starga ...

, threatens to inundate the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Intern ...

. In the poem, Jetn̄il-Kijiner promises that she will protect her daughter from the crisis, and assures her, and her descendants, the ability to live in the Marshall Islands. The poem, however, also recognizes the failure to avoid the relocation of the Carteret Islanders, and promises that "We are drawing the line now" Commenting on the poem in his retrospective documentary ''The Last Years of

Majuro Majuro (; Marshallese: ' ) is the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak (Sunrise) Chain of the Marshall Islands. The ato ...

,'' in regards to the predicted inundation of the Marshall Islands due to climate change,

Sam Denby Sam Denby (born March 17, 1998) is an American YouTuber, best known for creating the edutainment YouTube channels Wendover Productions, Half as Interesting, Extremities, and Jet Lag: The Game. Across all of Denby's channels, he has accumulated ...

said, "In stories, the

underdog An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...

is supposed to win. When they give it their all, ..when they read 'Dear Matafele Peinem', when they chant 1.5 to stay alive,A common climate change slogan in the Marshall Islands. See it’s supposed to work. Today, projections show that under the best case scenario, we’ll reach 1.5 in 2052." __NOTOC__

External links

Performance of the poem at the United Nations
(YouTube video). United Nations.

Footnotes

Notes

References

{{Marshalls-stub Marshallese art United Nations climate change conferences Climate change mass media Environmental literature Ecopoetry