Dear future children,
Although I have never known a world untouched by climate change, I was lucky enough to grow up around forests and oceans, breathing fresh air and seeing the biodiversity that this world has to offer. Growing up in Alaska made me feel a connection to the environment that I hope you can feel too– a knowledge that this earth is our home, our only home, and everything we are and could ever hope to be is because of this wonderful planet.
I hope that it’s not too late to change things. We have done a lot of wrong, to the Earth and to you. We’ve poisoned lakes, rivers, even oceans. We’ve killed off more plants and animals than we could ever imagine. We’ve stolen homes, ruined lives, and, worst of all, we’ve created a future that might not be safe for you. Surely it will not be as wonderful as it could have been.
I hope that I can help change things, that I can learn to change myself. I hope that only using tote bags and reusable water bottles, recycling and eating local food, conserving water instead of wasting it, cutting back on my use of fossil fuels, will make some sort of difference for the world you will live in.
More than that, I hope I am able to educate others. I hope I can write books, speak to lawmakers, speak to the public, bring new perspective, change minds, adapt, correct, conserve the world we have, and the world we have created. If more people would realize the urgency of this issue, I’m sure we could really change things for the better.
I want to make people understand. I want you to have the trees and the rivers, the fresh air and animals. I want you to live in this world, to thrive in it, not simply to survive. The world was not put here for me, but I will be here for the world. And so will you.
