Dear future generations,

I hope you are finding this letter in good spirits. However, with the outlook on the future of this planet from today, November 2nd, 2017, I’m a little concerned you will be in a crisis state.

We are actually in a crisis state right now, but so many of us are still just going on with our lives because we feel like any change we make on an individual level will not make any difference. We are all becoming slaves to our routines. We demonize change. We are all wearing blinders, blocking out the information that makes us uneasy and pushing it down into our unconscious. We feel small and insignificant, and we are acting as if the future of this planet (or lack thereof) is inevitable and unchangeable. We are choosing to be selfish and stay in our comfort zones. We are not compromising for the sake of our dying planet, because we seem to be in denial that it is dying. Our current president doesn’t believe in climate change. He is ignoring the hard science-based evidence that temperatures are rising and weather is changing and oceans are becoming lifeless due to human activity. He is trying to discredit and banish regulations from the EPA. If I had one big hope, it would be that whoever takes office after him (and every next president, for that matter) reverses the damage he is doing. I hope that whoever is representing our country at the time you read this realizes the severity of the environmental crises we are facing and creates momentum to take large-scale action.

I hope that by the time you’re reading this, we have started to see positive effects resulting from a change in our systems and our policies. I hope that there is still a little bit of life left in the sea. I hope there is still an abundance of produce to eat. I hope most of that produce is able to be sourced locally. I hope that animal products are not considered food anymore. I hope that the extraction and burning of fossil fuels to provide energy and fuel is a dead trend. Most of all, though, I hope you are living in peace. I hope you are living in peace with the planet, and I hope that through learning to live in peace with the planet, you have learned to live in peace with one another. Learning to see the beauty and value in protecting the planet and reversing the damage while we still can will be so much easier once we see the beauty and value in respecting and protecting each other, in settling our differences and putting them aside to contribute positively to a larger cause. After all, we are all human. We are all living on this planet… and this planet is the only planet we’ve got, whether we like it or not. We have the power to save it.

I promise you that right now, in this moment and in every moment I continue to be alive, I am fighting to raise awareness for that fact. Everyday I choose compassion. I choose compassion toward all beings, I choose to be a compassionate consumer, and I choose to be compassionate toward the planet. And by doing that, I hope to inspire others to do the same, because I know that even though I am just one person, I still have the power to make a change. I want to break the cycle of comfort and denial. I want to help people wake up and open their eyes and see the great danger our planet is in. I don’t want people to take anything they have for granted anymore, because almost everything they own and every behavior they exhibit nowadays comes at the cost of our environment and natural resources. I am trying my very hardest to educate and lead by example. I know I have already had an influence on those close to me, and my hope is that they have had influence on those close to them, too, and a chain reaction starts. Sooner or later, I hope that all the chain reactions from around the world culminate into the incentive to create change. By the time you’re reading this, I hope that change was enough to give you the ability to live comfortably.

I will continue to fight for your well-being everyday.