This is my most important work.

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Sarah Fortner
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Dear Alex and Vivian,

When I was a teenager I first crossed an Icefield with the Juneau Icefield Research Program. I had only camped once before, so this experience was formative. Traveling back last summer as faculty filled me with such joy.  Then sadness registered.  Valley walls showed the scrape of ice that once existed.

I won’t be paralyzed. The consequences of climate change are speeding forward affecting real people and wild spaces. I am your advocate for the world you deserve in my teaching and in our community. I will use these roles to help make change. This is my most important work.

Love,

Mom

Sarah Fortner
Associate Professor of Geology & Environmental Science
Wittenberg University 

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More Messages to the Future

 

To older Rochelle,

You should’ve reduced your carbon footprint, should be using some source of renewable energy and be a vegetarian by now.

 

Dear Great Grandchildren,

If you are reading this, you probably inherited my fascination with ancestry, and the way it uncovers incredible stories of unlikely survival.

 

Dear Tomorrow,

I haven’t met you yet, but I already know you deserve a better tomorrow.

 

Anya,

All you can do is your best. You can encourage the same in others. You can admit your mistakes and those of your ancestors. You can learn from them, and help however you can. I’ll do the same. I promise.

 

Dear Spike, Loulou and Yoshua,

I’m going to start a campaign to try to convince everybody in the Netherlands to not eat meat one day a week.

 

We will look back on our time here and ask, “What did I do?”

If we truly live our present moment, maybe you’ll have a future.

 

Dear Future Explorers,

I am often faced with the question: why do I care so much about this pale blue dot that we inhabit?

 

I want to tell you a story. Yes, another one.

Mankind has always been able to deal with the greatest challenges it’s faced and this will not be the exception. My message to you is: find that passion and give it your all. ‘Till your legs give out.

 

Dear Tomorrow,

I promise to use a reusable water bottle.

 

Para minha querida filha, Vitória,

Consegue compreender que estamos aqui de passagem e que temos por obrigação apenas tomar emprestado, evitado excessos e principalmente agradecer.

 

Dear Future Family,

As I’m sitting here trying to think of the best words to say to you all, I am thinking of one major thing: that I can only hope that you all get to experience the incredible beauty created by our planet.

 

Dear Tomorrow,

I will encourage composting at work.

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