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

I am writing this letter to you because a commitment to you feels more real than one to my own future children, who are, for the moment, imaginary. You are kids that matter to me right now. You all have excellent parents who are among my favorite people on the planet. I know they will do just about anything to keep you safe and give you’re a prosperous, fulfilling future. But I also know that climate change is so big and so scary that the love and sacrifice of your individual parents will not be enough. If you are going to live in a world as beautiful as the one I grew up in and at least no more precarious and unjust, all of us grown ups need to create a public solution.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about writing this letter. That is because it is hard. I am near tears every time I start. I cannot quite believe how much risk we are putting you in with our country’s inaction and how slow we are to change.

Thinking about this letter has changed my behavior already. I think about it whenever I am choosing to recycle a bottle that would be easier to throw away—really, that often. I thought about this letter when Erin and I made the choice to have one car instead of two. And I try to think of you whenever that choice is inconvenient and frustrating. I commit to keeping your future in my mind when I make those individual choices even after this letter is sent too.

But I commit to more. I know more is needed. I commit to taking action politically and urging others to do so. 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. I commit to standing up, literally with a sign or more figuratively, to demand that our government take action. You cannot yet tell our leaders what you need, although I suspect for some of you it will not be long, so I commit to standing with your parents for public policy that will address climate change for real.

If we do nothing or do too little or wait too long, you all will have life tougher than I did. And I want just the opposite for you–a world more just, a world renewed. So I commit to being in your corner in the fight to make climate change a public priority.

My love to you all,

Your Auntie/Buddy Georgia