Tonight at bedtime, you asked, seemingly out of nowhere, “why are the glaciers disappearing?”

Sent on
January 1, 2019
by
Alison Anderson
Send Your Own Message

Dear Daughter,

Starting at age 2, you loved Montana. It’s your favorite state. This doesn’t make much sense. We live in Tennessee. We’d never been to Montana. But, as soon as you got your first puzzle of the United States, it was all Montana, all the time. We ordered books and tourism guides and your interest in Montana became part of the background of our lives.

In 2018, when you were 5 ½, we took a family trip there for 2 weeks, largely to spend time in Glacier Mountain National Park. You were elated. Of course, we knew what was happening to the glaciers. They were disappearing. It would have been impossible to keep it from you, given the ranger talks and signage, and we wouldn’t have tried.

Back home in TN, we’ve been to climate marches and to senators’ offices to argue for clean air and clean water. You understand the Earth is warming.

It’s been 5 months since we hiked up close to your favorite, Salamander Glacier. Tonight at bedtime, you asked, seemingly out of nowhere, “why are the glaciers disappearing?” And then, “when the glaciers in Montana are gone, where will there be glaciers left?”

Oh, how I want to tell you it will all be okay. Not to worry about it. But, the truth is, I can’t bring myself to say it. I don’t know if it will be okay. I don’t know what your life, or your potential kids’ lives will look like due to climate change. For now, I state the facts, and I hope for good political sense and good technology to save us all.

Share on:
 
Send Your Own Message

More Messages to the Future

 

Dear You Tomorrow,

What we failed to do, at least early on, was to see how important it was to put those solutions together. To combine into a way forward.
 

Dear Jackson,

I feel deeply that it is my moral obligation as your Mom to protect your future and allow you to inherit a clean and healthy planet.
 

Queridas crianças do mundo inteiro,

Pedimos que vocês procurem fazer como nós e continuem essa luta de colaborar com nosso planeta: evitando o consumo exagerado, usando a tecnologia para o bem, plantando árvores, economizando água e poluindo menos.
 

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.
 

To the future generations,

I will stand on the streets, in the courts, and in the schools to encourage awareness and empathy for the earth.
 

Dear Tomorrow and Dearest Lex, 

I do believe that the collective power of everyone’s best efforts can curb the worst effects of climate change, and provide you with a more stable and secure future.
 

Dear Tomorrow,

My promise is to continue to dedicate my life, my business, and my future to creating cultures that embrace environmental action not only for our own good, but the good of the countless other species hurting from climate change.
 

Dear Tomorrow,

I promise to use a water bottle.
 

Dear grandchild,

There is a place on this planet called the Amazon, and I don’t mean the online shopping site (is that still a thing in your time?).
 

Dear Tanuj,

The time has come to question ourselves as citizens about our own actions and the legacy we are leaving behind.
 

To my children,

If there is one thing that I taught you it is to be honest in your decisions as they pertain to yourselves and the earth in which you live.
 

Dear Tara,

I am sitting in a classroom thinking about you. Which is rare for me. I hope that our family has taken some initiative to do something about changing society instead of building robots and large houses.
View All Messages

Send Your Own Message