I’m going to commit to raising you with your eyes open. Being aware as much as we can, how to better our environment together.

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June 23, 2015

Danielle Chasteen-Zamudio

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My Dear Paloma,

Today was the first day of our vacation, just you and I. We are in the beautiful Catskill Mountains, breathing clean air into our lungs. Being close to everything green and so alive is all we need.

You are two and growing everyday with new words and thoughts and actions. Today, all you wanted to do was be outside and run in the meadows, climb mountains, and swim in the creek.

I want to tell you that to love nature and our world is essential to our survival. You will continue to learn from me, your daddy, grandparents, teachers, and peers how to care for the planet.

Growing up in Southern California I was always very aware of the smog pollution that surrounded Los Angeles. If my asthma was acting up, on occasion my parents would drive my sisters and I to the beach to help me breathe. I believe that efforts to help care for our environment have been expected from me by the way I was raised. It was instilled in me that our natural resources were not unlimited. My parents conserved water, recycled, even purchased our beef a from a local ranch. I feel extremely fortunate now realizing that this was rare.

I’m going to commit to raising you with your eyes open. Being aware as much as we can, how to better our environment together. You are being raised Vegan, and mostly organic. By eating a plant based diet, we are not contributing to the vast pollution and animal abuse that factory farming is producing. We also drive only on weekends because we live in Brooklyn and can commute via public transportation. I will try my best to compost taking advantage of our local farmers market.

My hopes are to expose you to as much of this beautiful planet that I can. Being outside on the weekends and traveling to the beaches, parks and occasionally camping. This is how I was raised – but we know so much more now and have made so many mistakes as a society. I only hope that we can try and slow down the climate change together. I will continue to do what I can and try to be more involved on a larger level. I’d like to think that this letter is that commitment to myself and you!

I’m trying my little love, for you and all of your future friends!!! This planet is not ours, we live here for a short time, please tread lightly.

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More Messages to the Future

Dear Maya,

Maya, my love, I promise to be courageous. I promise that when I face a decision, I will think of how it will impact you and your future. I promise that I’ll also step outside my individual decisions and add my weight to the forces that shift culture and systems.

Dear Son,

I hope with effective action to combat this climate change will we have a better world in the future.

Dear Future,

I hope that things have cooled down. I hope that people and governments have come together to save our earth. I hope that everyone is able to breath clean air, drink clean water and see the beauty in nature that I do. I promise to do my best to take part in repairing the damage we’ve done so that my hopes may come true.

Dear Isaiah,

I am grateful for your soul, for your creativity, for your empathy. All these are precious treasures that you have to offer the world. They will help. I thank you for being in this world right now, so that you can offer these gifts at a time of transition.

To My Future Child(ren),

The fact that you are reading this means that you would know the answer to a question that has kept me up at night more often than I would like to admit: Did I make you proud?

For those who come after us,

This is for the countless children I already see suffering the impact of climate change around the world, and the generations to follow.

To my Beloved Future Children,

Be fearless – do not be afraid to talk to each other and do not be afraid to fail.

Dear Rosie,

But when you are reading this years from now, by the light of a solar powered lamp, know that your dad, mom and millions of others who burned brightly with love for our kids did what we could, when we knew the stakes.

To my dear son Zac,

I promise to raise you as a loving-nature human.

Dear Nephew,

I believe i have truly played my part in raising awareness and practical solutions to climate change.

Dear Future,

I will use less plastic.

Dear Alyssa,

I pray that more and more fathers will realize that to love their children well, they have to love and respect the ecological systems around them too.

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