Dear Future,

There isn’t one happy moment that doesn’t involve me engaging with the outdoors. My travel experience is minimal, but the best part of those five-hour car drives was the absence of people within small pockets of trees. All of my favorite movies and shows have some aspects of a romanticized wild nature, and to my disappointment I realized that is the reality of our world; every piece of the “wild” is romanticized and rarely depicted for in its human altered truth. As a city dweller, I call my synthetic surroundings home and at the same time I appreciate its position in what used to be a world ruled by mother nature. Despite the content I feel in an urban area I also have a very overwhelming need to be around things that humans have not changed. The weakening biodiversity and diminishing amount of lands are what bother me the most about our current treatment of the world.

So, in this letter I’ll refer to future me, friends, family, and colleagues because I hope that everyone will have a chance to see more of the natural world than I ever could. As of right now, making more vegan choices and buying things like an electric car are not possible for me or my family. I want to be able to reduce my waste and not use too many disposable plastics but certain habits are really hard to break, especially since these harmful materials are so convenient and cheap. Since I don’t expect people to un-innovate for the sake of the environment, I’ve decided to dedicate my higher education to help carry on initiatives to better our use and treatment of the Earth.

I hope that all of those who are a part of my future understand that there needs to be more self-reflection and consciousness. I want nothing more to preserve the aspects of my surroundings that gave me nothing but positive memories. I’m hoping that my efforts to help promote more conscious usage of the Earth’s resources and do what we can to reverse/work with Climate Change will make it easier for my future kin to deal with our changing world and preserve what it left of it. I hope that they will be able to experience more of nature than I was able to, and that my artificial home and other cities can integrate the natural scenery.

I’m really hoping for the best.

Camila