And, if this summer has taught me anything, I am content (because I have to be) living in this limbo, this seemingly endless waiting for the opportunity to change, when really the opportunity exists within our very selves all along.

In writing to you, I realize that I don’t want you to be hard on yourself if you choose to not make this your cause. But it is mine, so I hope that you hold me accountable to some of what I wrote here.

It is today on March 6th, 2017 that you have made the decision to make a difference in this world.

It’s scary, this is the stuff you see in movies about the end of the world.

When the worst consequences of climate change still feel far away today, or the barriers to acting on climate change seem steep today, I do not think about today. I think about you, and your world when you are my age.

Saiba que enquanto eu tiver vida, minha voz não calará para alertar o mal que estamos fazendo agora para as nossas gerações futuras…

“I knew you would want to know how the future turned out. You got so anxious about climate change as we grew older.  By coming back, I thought I could help you with that.”

But when you encounter that resistance–and you will, regularly–know that you must respond just how we have had to these past 50 years. With love, and sternness, and most of all, courage. Because that is what the resistance fears the most. We who came before you promise that we will do the same while we wait for you. Know that you will never be alone.

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?

We are fighting for a shared cause, inspired by our strong and unwavering dedication to preserve the beauty and wonder of our natural world for our children, our grandchildren and their children, and for countless generations to come.

The world is changing and it is happening fast.