I realize my reflection of the past, current and future state of the environment paints a grim and pessimistic picture, but I feel optimistic in our ability to turn planet Earth’s fate around if we all work together and commit to making a change.

The beauty and majesty of the world of your childhood is as remarkable as the beauty and majesty of mine, but the fragility of your childhood world is so much greater.

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.

I hope that my work helping to make your schools more sustainable will be something you carry on as you grow older.

I am going to start doing better to have a healthier planet for you to live on.

I’m going to start a campaign to try to convince everybody in the Netherlands to not eat meat one day a week.

We’re presenting at conferences, writing articles, and organizing events with the goal of mobilizing our profession to act on climate, and to help them understand that it will deeply impact our mission to preserve history for future generations.

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