I wonder if in 2050 we will be looking at a future where fear from the changes at hand has caused people to hate rather than love and provide hope. Perhaps in that world we will we no longer comprehend the biblical texts in a meaningful way. Will climate change be the end of the epoch of God?

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Grandma Roy
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Dear Finley,

I am writing this on your 7th birthday, today on your 38th you know all too well that in 2019 we failed to stop carbon emissions in time to prevent catastrophic changes. Venice, Miami, Manhattan, and many of our greatest coastal cities are changed forever as the oceans rose into the streets and canals of the centers of our civic life. God’s creation, evolved into complex forms and relationships that provide beauty while sustaining us are forever gone. I am sorry that we didn’t have success in saving more for you.

You are living on the edge of a new time. We know that life will continue on earth, but we do not know how. Some life will certainly continue and evolve into a new set of thriving ecosystems in the time it takes for earth’s continents to rearrange themselves. New life forms will radiate from those that remain, creating species of plants and animals that we can only imagine.

In 2019 the role we will play in that story is not yet clear, but for the promise of love and hope. If we choose to treat our fellow humans with compassion, I have hope that we will overcome the challenges of drought in some places and rising seas in others to make room for everyone on our changing planet. You are and will be an important person in leading the way for displaced people with your compassion and understanding of others.

If we fail to help people as climate change progresses, I fear you will be witnessing people compounding other’s suffering. Drought, flooding, famine, and unfair immigration policies will have led to war and famine, causing more human deaths than necessary.

If our society has chosen this course, our survival as humans may be in doubt. As you know the biblical texts were written over the last 2500-3000 years. In that amount of time from now, the radiation of life that will fill our changed world will barely have begun. Evolutionary time is slow and patient. In the immediacy of today, however, our survival depends upon the stability of ecosystems we know today. I wonder if in 2050 we will be looking at a future where fear from the changes at hand has caused people to hate rather than love and provide hope. Perhaps in that world we will we no longer comprehend the biblical texts in a meaningful way. Will climate change be the end of the epoch of God?

Whether we have treated our fellow humans with love, and proceeded with hope will provide that answer.

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More Messages to the Future

 

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 educate myself and others about how we can protect and nourish our 1 PLANET

 

Dear my future child,

I promise you, I am going to do everything I can to save this planet for you. I won’t let you down, I swear.

 

Dear friends,

We need to rethink our consumption habits in order to reduce the impacts on the environment.

 

To my beloved granddaughters, Margaret and Caroline,

Growing up in Germany, I often wondered what my parents had done to oppose the Nazi regime in the 1930’s that led to WWII.  I was so disappointed when I found out how passive they had been. For me, this was formative.

 

Dear Tomorrow,

I promise to switch from “light” to “deep” green.

 

Dear Tomorrow,

I promise to pick up trash at every beach I visit 🙂 and to bike for local errands.

 

Dear Future Afnan,

You should make a time machine and come back to past and solve all the problems.

 

Dear Lillyana,

I will continue to work to make the Earth a cleaner and safer place for you to grow and explore.

 

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I also hope that your previous prayers have been answered. The way you wanted to create green jobs for your fellow city dwellers have been fulfilled already.

 

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To think that my choices of sustainable commuting, eating a plant based diet, and working on our City’s zero waste program likely pale in comparison to the impact of not having a baby is nothing short of devastating.  Does it make me a bad environmentalist to honor my maternal instincts?

 

Dear Maddie,

Please know that I have tried very hard to be one of those people, to even make the smallest of changes in order to improve the world for you and your future.

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