GEOFF BENNETT: There's a new yearlong project# by the nation's poet laureate bringing poetry## in the natural world into focus and# what's at stake due to climate change.

Jeffrey Brown reports for our# new series, Art in Action,## exploring the intersection of art and# democracy.

It's part of our Canvas coverage.

JEFFREY BROWN: It was a walk in# the park with poetry, National## Park Service Ranger Aleutia Scott leading,# then reading the work of poet Mary Oliver.

ALEUTIA SCOTT, Park Ranger,# National Park Service: "Look,## the trees are turning their# own bodies into pi.. JEFFREY BROWN: Oliver, who died in 2019, was# known for her love of nature.

And this was one## of her favorite walks around Blackwater Pond, on# the Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.

Taking that walk this day, one of today's# leading poets, U.S. poet laureate Ada Limon,## launching a project she calls You Are Here.

ADA LIMON, U.S.

Poet Laureate: I kept# thinking that poetry and nature are the## two things that work so beautifully together# to bring us a sense of awe and wonder.

And I feel like poetry is a way that# opens us up to a deeper experience## with nature.

And so the two of them# working together is really beautiful.

MAN: Please join me in welcoming our 24th# United States poet laureate, Ada Limon.

(APPLAUSE) JEFFREY BROWN: One part of You# Are Here is poetry in the parks,## bringing classic nature poems by past# writers into the natural world itself.

ADA LIMON: One, two, three, poetry.

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) JEFFREY BROWN: Limon chose to kick# off the campaign here in Cape Cod## with Mary Oliver's poem "Can You Imagine?

"# printed atop a picnic table, a place for## all who come here to read, to contemplate,# perhaps to write something of their own.

ADA LIMON: I really wanted to offer a moment of# reflection and deeper intention in the parks.

JEFFREY BROWN: What does poetry do?

ADA LIMON: Poetry sort of ignites# a place in you that is receptive## to a deeper kind of attention.

And# a poem, sitting and reading a poem,## even a very short one, can allow you to# receive the world in a different way.

JEFFREY BROWN: That was certainly the# impact the Pulitzer Prize-winning Oliver,## one of the country's most read# and best-loved poets, had on many,## including Limon, who was eager to honor her year.

ADA LIMON: She famously used to hide pencils in# the beach forest so that, if she had a good idea## and was without a pen, she could find one of those# pencils and make sure she could write it down.

JEFFREY BROWN: Oh, really?

ADA LIMON: Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: T.. (LAUGHTER) ADA LIMON: Poetic pencil litter.

ALEUTIA SCOTT: "To live in this world,# you must be able to do three things."

JEFFREY BROWN: But poetry in the parks,# a collaboration with the poetry society## of America, and, notably, the National# Park Service, is also about a far more## serious impact on the world around us,# the destructive forces of climate change.

Ranger Clay Hanna works in interpretation# and engagement at the national headquarters.

CLAY HANNA, Park Ranger, National Park Service:# Yes, when we think about our national parks,## we see those impacts of climate change,# right?

We see that directly within our parks.

And I think a project like this is another# way to approach communication about what's## happening to the natural world, right?

And# connecting that through a different means,## through poetry, allows visitors to immerse# themselves, find themselves in these landscapes,## and think about how they have a# connection to the natural world.

JEFFREY BROWN: The project brings Limon# into seven national parks around the## country, featuring significant# American poems relating to each.

ADA LIMON: This is another dear poet and poem.

JEFFREY BROWN: She read the seven poems# at Provincetown's Fine Arts Work Center,## including "The Valley" by Jean Valentine... ADA LIMON: "The valley edge by edge."

JEFFREY BROWN: ... for Cuyahoga National Park# in Ohio, "The Earth Is a Living Thing" by## Lucille Clifton for Great Smoky National# Park in Tennessee and North Carolina.

ADA LIMON: "The Earth is a living# thing, a black, shambling bear."

JEFFREY BROWN: "Cloud Song" by Ofelia# Zepeda for Arizona's Saguaro National Park.

ADA LIMON: "Greenly, they emerge.# In colors of blue, they emerge."

JEFFREY BROWN: The other piece of Limon's# You Are Here project requires no visits## to the great outdoors.

She commissioned new# work for an anthology from contemporary poets## addressing our lives as part of nature,# her goal, a new kind of nature poetry,## reflecting traumatic changes for# millions and for the Earth itself.

ADA LIMON: Now when we write about# nature, there's solastalgia that's## connected to it.

There is sadness, there's# worry, there's anxiety, there's tension.

JEFFREY BROWN: Solastalgia.

ADA LIMON: Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: What is t.. ADA LIMON: It's basically being nostalgic for .. know it's shifting and changing.

And I'm not quite# sure how clear-eyed our poetry can be if we're## not making room for our whole selves and those# parts of us that are grieving, those parts of us## that are furious, and those parts of us that are# trying to figure out how to make impactful change.

JEFFREY BROWN: The You Are Here project# also includes a kind of call to action via## social media to encourage people to share their## poetic responses to the prompt and to# build a community of concerned citizens.

Back at the park, Ranger Clay Hanna# refers to the idea of democracy for## all in describing the role of storytelling# in the parks using poetry and other arts.

CLAY HANNA: We see parks as a place for people# to come together, right?

We -- our programming is## audience first.

We're audience-centered, right?# So we're not telling people how to think.

We're## providing those stories to make them think, right,# and often to interact with the audience.

Other.

JEFFREY BROWN: In an unusual partnership, Ada# Limon collaborated with government climate## scientists, studying their findings and# contributing a poem to an official report.

For Limon, there is the ultimate belief in the## power of her art form to impact# lives, even at a time like this.

ADA LIMON: Because it feels to me like we# can get very myopic and feel like we are## the only person going through whatever# it is that we're going through.

And,## in reality, all of us need to recognize that# what happens in this world happens to all of us.

MAN: One, two, three.

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) JEFFREY BROWN: After our time together,## Ada Limon took her project to Mount Rainier# National Park in Washington and Redw.. National and State Parks in California.# Her park visits continue through the fall.

For the PBS "News Hour," I'm Jeffrey Brown at the## Cape Cod National Seashore in# Provincetown, Massachusetts.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, in October, Ada Limon# will send some of her poetry into outer## space.

Her poem "In Praise of Mystery" is being# engraved onto the Europa Clipper spacecraft set## to take off for its 1.8-billion-mile# mission to Jupiter's smallest moon.

The so-called Message in a Bottle project invited## people around the world to sign on# to the poem.

Some 2.6 million will## now have their names stenciled onto# microchips mounted on the spacecraft.