To My Future Children,

You would not be here if I thought it could only get worse.

I wasn’t too old before I realized that a generational divide exists between me and my own parents– your grandparents. Climate change was my problem to solve from the beginning, they could escape it. But my generation, we see it happening in front of us. We fill the gaps in our knowledge with resources dispersed on social media and the internet. We share knowledge and connection, breaking down the barriers between humans that past generations have tried to build up. We see destruction on the horizon, and, in many ways, have already experienced it.

But like I said, you wouldn’t be here if I thought things could only get worse.

People want to write it off– climate change, human failure, destruction of our own selves and our planet– maybe that’s because they don’t understand, maybe that’s because they’re too afraid to be radically optimistic. I was born into a world plagued with capitalist greed, corrupt power, and negligence for both humanity and nature. I can attest it isn’t always easy to be radically optimistic. Yet all around me, young people are getting it done, organizing in the streets, getting their names on the ticket. I believe in the young people of my generation.

We don’t want to put our children in the position we were born into– a world that appears to be crumbling, physical disaster occurring around us, the threat of impending doom causing sickness to our Earth as it does to our heads. We won’t let you exist in a world like that. So that’s why, right now, we are organizing. Electing climate champions to the local, state, and federal offices. Lobbying for climate protection at all levels. Educating our friends and family members. Going meatless. Reducing our individual carbon footprint– its why your clothes are thrifted and why our lawn doesn’t look like the one in my childhood pictures. I’ve quickly learned that combatting climate change intersects with every aspect of my life, and for you, I will change all of it. Because you deserve a better world, a healthier life free from the burden that other generations have passed onto you.

You’re here because things will change over the next 30 years. It won’t be a utopia, it won’t be close to perfect– but you’ll be able to see that we’ve progressed in the right direction and there is no room to turn back. And eventually– because the young people will win– you will lead us into an even brighter future.

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More Messages to the Future

To what we’ve overcome.

The first step would be in overcoming ourselves. Because whether we end up fading into obscurity, or thriving in prosperity, we will overcome ourselves.

Dear future family and friends,

This is our house.

Dear friends,

Rather than exploit it, destroy it, poison it, why don’t we just enhance the beauty of it, guard it, and love it?

Dear Lila

So today, my strong and spunky girl, I promise you this: I will stay vigilant and flexible. I will spread the word.

Dear Tomorrow,

This is just the beginning. It’s the accrual of little seeds of change that will lead to the tree of revolution.

Hi buddy,

I can now see that the solutions are there, that a transition of the magnitude that is needed, is possible.

Dear future generations,

It’s never too late to make a difference. Our actions have very real consequences. We can educate ourselves, learn from our mistakes, and take action. We can hold companies like big oil and big plastic accountable for their negative impacts on the environment. We can educate ourselves and others about what causes climate change and what actions we as individuals can take to lower our carbon footprints.

Dear future generations,

I pledge to you now that I will work tirelessly and with all my willpower so you don’t have to live in a world where you have to worry about the next storm.

Dear World,

The environment is important – take care of your actions to not destroy it starting from now.

To my dear son Zac,

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

Dear old dude Mårten,

I know that the 2019 version of me (today that is) wished and hoped for that I did all within my power to turn the world around without loosing sight on the beauty of being alive.

Dear Child,

Hope we get to have that snowball fight I always dreamed we’d have.

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