To My Loved Ones,

I often wonder what the future will be. Will the wonders I have explored with you today still remain? Will the world look different? Will it feel different? Will I feel different? There is no doubt that climate change will have an effect on every aspect of our lives, but how different will it be and feel when we’re old?

I can’t help but to feel that we as citizens have not done enough, we aren’t doing enough. As I write this, I think of the trails we’ve hiked to Glaciers, the lakes we’ve vistied, and the oceans we’ve dipped our toes in. We haven’t done our part to protect them. We caused this damage, accelerated it, and how quickly we’ve done it! How slowly we have made our wrongs a right. Nature will push on, but we won’t be around to see it flourish once again.

I’m saddened to think that my future loved ones won’t see the beauty that once was. My hope is that we, as a society, can prevent the worst and begin to treat the environment with care again.

Sincerely,

Yours

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More Messages to the Future

Rachel and Noelle,

I hope in a small way this helps your world.

Minhas lindas,

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

Dear Evie of 2050,

I can feel the change happening — many people are working to transform the world.

Queridos nietas/nietos,

Creo que debo hacer más. Por ello, he decidido escribir esta breve carta para empezar un proceso en el que vaya escribiendo más cartas, conforme vaya teniendo más claridad de mis posibles contribuciones.

Dear Tomorrow,

I promise to change the culture of my school.

Dear Tomorrow,

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

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I promise to care about the planet.

Dear Emilia and Tommy,

We, in our time, still have the chance to change course. We have the knowledge and emergent means, even the profitable technologies, to do so.

Dear future love,

A culture of consumption is the reason that my world faces such an ecological crisis, it is both necessary and proper to address the fundamental mindsets that have created such a destructive culture.

A love letter to my son

I hope this year is a real turning point and by the time you’re a teenager, your life is powered almost entirely by clean energy like solar and wind.

Querido amanhã,

Em fim, espero que você receba essa mensagem, e entenda o quão pequenos nos somos e como é importante preservar o planeta terra.

Dear future child,

We’re presenting at conferences, writing articles, and organizing events with the goal of mobilizing our profession to act on climate, and to help them understand that it will deeply impact our mission to preserve history for future generations.

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