Dear Future,

There isn’t one happy moment that doesn’t involve me engaging with the outdoors. My travel experience is minimal, but the best part of those five-hour car drives was the absence of people within small pockets of trees. All of my favorite movies and shows have some aspects of a romanticized wild nature, and to my disappointment I realized that is the reality of our world; every piece of the “wild” is romanticized and rarely depicted for in its human altered truth. As a city dweller, I call my synthetic surroundings home and at the same time I appreciate its position in what used to be a world ruled by mother nature. Despite the content I feel in an urban area I also have a very overwhelming need to be around things that humans have not changed. The weakening biodiversity and diminishing amount of lands are what bother me the most about our current treatment of the world.

So, in this letter I’ll refer to future me, friends, family, and colleagues because I hope that everyone will have a chance to see more of the natural world than I ever could. As of right now, making more vegan choices and buying things like an electric car are not possible for me or my family. I want to be able to reduce my waste and not use too many disposable plastics but certain habits are really hard to break, especially since these harmful materials are so convenient and cheap. Since I don’t expect people to un-innovate for the sake of the environment, I’ve decided to dedicate my higher education to help carry on initiatives to better our use and treatment of the Earth.

I hope that all of those who are a part of my future understand that there needs to be more self-reflection and consciousness. I want nothing more to preserve the aspects of my surroundings that gave me nothing but positive memories. I’m hoping that my efforts to help promote more conscious usage of the Earth’s resources and do what we can to reverse/work with Climate Change will make it easier for my future kin to deal with our changing world and preserve what it left of it. I hope that they will be able to experience more of nature than I was able to, and that my artificial home and other cities can integrate the natural scenery.

I’m really hoping for the best.

Camila

Send Your Own Message

More Messages to the Future

Dear Tara,

I am sitting in a classroom thinking about you. Which is rare for me. I hope that our family has taken some initiative to do something about changing society instead of building robots and large houses.

Dear little one,

In the coming months, we plan to complete a full assessment of our environmental impact online. We hope to discover our biggest areas of resource consumption, learn what we can do better, and create an action plan to improve over the next year.

Minhas lindas,

As causas das mudanças no clima são tão profundas e envolvem tanta gente e tantos lugares.

Dear Tomorrow,

I am so sorry we didn’t realize this predicament sooner.

Dear Tomorrow

Stay Cool and Save the Whales

dear me in 2030,

I am smelling burning plastic!

Dear A and C,

You are growing up in a time of immense change. In the last two years alone, we’ve learned so much about big and important issues including climate change and the systemic racism that runs through our institutions.

Dear Children and Grandchildren,

I see a world full of hope fueled by the desire for change.

Dear Tomorrow,

I promise to reach out to more people to ditch driving and consider using public transportation. I promise to convince Marin markets that sensible policies in density and mixed use planning will further enhance everyone’s quality of life.

Dear Tomorrow,

I promise I’ll replace our lights with LED lights.

Salutations to whoever may be reading this,

I promise to do my part. I promise to be the change I want to see in the world, and I hope that you, reader, will do the same.

Dear Earth,

I will keep the air clean so everyone can see the sunset.

View All Messages