Maya, my love, I promise to be courageous. I promise that when I face a decision, I will think of how it will impact you and your future. I promise that I’ll also step outside my individual decisions and add my weight to the forces that shift culture and systems.

Our planet is crazy. I pledge to be an innovator to make sustainable living real.

It’s not enough to just recycle. I will sign petitions and call my local representatives. I will also engage in conversations about climate change – even with people with whom I don’t see eye-to-eye.

I will not stop fighting for a more sustainable future, your future.

I hope with effective action to combat this climate change will we have a better world in the future.

It was 2020, the year I realized that life is fragile—not just mine, but the entire planet—through immense consumption, pollution, greediness, ignorance, false bliss. This wasn’t the way I wanted to live my life, so I promise to actively make the change.

You are so small. So innocent. So beautiful. For you and for everyone else, I will try harder.

You are young and have a rich future ahead of you. I am retired and aiming for a high quality of cultural life and comfort with whatever time remains to me. I do not want to see a world whose elders sacrifice your future for their short-term needs and personal gain. So it’s up to you and me to speak out.