Happy 34th birthday my son.
Cyron,
As I sit here and write this letter to you 33 years ago I never thought this day would come. The day that I have to explain what happened to our world. I write to you today in hopes that the world you are living in is in better shape than we are currently on track for leaving you. From my birth I have seen the world change in dramatic ways. I my wish for you is that the world has not changed so much that you don’t notice when something is missing.
Your life started out in the forests of California and I hope that the remainder of my years can allow me to stay here. The redwood forest is a magical place that few people now too few people experience. I have made the sacrafices of modern conveniences to live a life of less stress and to be surrounded by wood instead of steel. However, to enjoy this lifestyle, your mother and I have done a lot of driving which has taken an incredible tole on the environment. As much as we try to limit our driving, economic conditions require both of us to commute long distances. Just to survive in our economy we have been forced to pollute more than we could have ever dreamed.
I promise to you as of this day that I will go beyond what I am currently doing to leave this planet in better shape. I will reduce my own carbon footprint in several ways, first I will make a conscious decision in our next vehicle to find the most efficiently fueled vehicle in order to lessen our impact. Secondly I will be doing everything I can to learn how to harness renewable energy. I recently bought a 100 watt solar panel system that I use for an quadraphonic garden. So far the pumps are powered by the sun, however I want to expand the solar system in order to perhaps run an appliance like the refrigerator.
My son, I leave you this letter in 2050, hopefully I am still here to read it with you. I envision a future where we read this letter together and shake our heads about the time we almost destroyed our planet. I dream of the laughter you make as you picture your father shocking himself with car batteries in order to save a few watts. To laugh at our efforts as they were on such a small scale, too small some would say to make a difference, and then smile when we think about the number families just like ours that did the same thing.