We had a lot in common obviously, and our concern for the planet we live on was one of the many things we bonded over.

Sent on

March 18, 2021

Anonymous

Send Your Own Message

Dear Jeremy,

OK, so it’s 2050 now and you are 54 years old, only ten years younger than I was when I wrote this letter. Guessing I’ve been gone for quite a while now. I hope this letter finds you in good spirits and good health and that you are prosperous and well-loved by friends and family, most of which I will likely never know. I hope Mama is still alive and well.

We had a lot in common obviously, and our concern for the planet we live on was one of the many things we bonded over. I expect there have been some quite disturbing developments in the past three decades and that the level of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased significantly from the dangerous levels it had reached even then. I would likely see a much different coastline if I was to have a chance to see the one where you grew up and I spent so much of my life. I expect there have also been many horrific forest fires and I wouldn’t at all be surprised to hear that there have been disastrous heat waves like what KSR described in Ministry for the Future.

My greatest hope is that the work I started so late in my life with climate groups like Drawdown Bay Area made some difference, even if only a little. I really hope you don’t live in a hellscape like the one in the Incubate commercial you worked on as a film editing student. If things are difficult – as I expect they are – keep trying to fight for the planet. I know I don’t have to remind you to keep doing the right thing.

Love, your Dad

Send Your Own Message

More Messages to the Future

Dear Tomorrow,

I promise when I start my baking franchise, I will reduce pollution made by it as much as physically possible.

Dear ACS, LG, CM, MCD, AH, MS, AS, GL, and ERD,

I commit to demanding that politicians that want my vote, my time, my substantial help and expertise are people who seek to address climate change seriously and talk about it boldly.

Dear Tomorrow,

I will opt up to deep green

Dear Tomorrow,

I promise to switch from “light” to “deep” green.

Dear Matthew, Sam, and Sophie,

There is a promise in the Bible: ‘I shall restore the years that the locusts have eaten’ and that points to a promise of complete healing and restoration. But until that comes I intend to do my best to ‘save the planet’ in whatever way I can, and I encourage you to do the same.

Dear Future Ryan,

I promise to be a knight in the campaign of truth seeking.

Dear Students,

I imagine at this point we have dropped our addiction to coal, gas, and oil and that our environment has made a turn for the better with the solar, wind, and other unimagined (at this point) alternative energy choices are in place.

Dear Tomorrow

I will teach my children about a greener earth.

To my children,

I am working with 350.org on shutting down the coal and unconventional gas industries in our country because I cannot think of a more direct way to protect you, the food, water and biodiversity we all love and rely on.

Hello spawn,

I am small now littles and I may be small forever but in my small ways I will fight for you.

To my precious children,

As you’ve grown older, I’ve become increasingly aware that protecting you means more than ensuring your short-term safety. It also means ensuring that you’ll have a safe planet to live on.

Dear Nolan, Patrick, Cullen and Gabriel,

This Mother’s Day I am again thinking of my grandsons future and what I am doing to change the world if only by a small fraction.

View All Messages