To my future children,

I have always envisioned a future for you that is open to possibilities for you to find happiness in your lives that involves good health not only for you but for the planet as well. As I write this message, I am cautiously optimist that this future is still possible despite the current state of climate change and my own country’s refusal to acknowledge that the road we are currently on is not sustainable for the health of our planet. Our overconsumption of everything from agriculture to fossil fuels is clouding our ability for human progression towards a cleaner and brighter future. I hope this realization has happened in time for you not to wonder about the reality of climate change and its negative impacts that often are not visible to developed countries. Instead, those bearing the repercussions of overconsumption are often below global poverty rates and have their homes and communities altered due to global efforts that support unsustainable lifestyles and ignore the alternatives that are becoming more available to them each day.

All my parents, your grandparents, wished for me when they immigrated to this country was for me to lead a better life than they did. And I’m surprised that I now find myself wanting the same thing for you. Their life was filled with struggles I can’t relate to and I hope you feel the same sympathy in the future that I did hearing about my parents’ childhoods. I like to think your future won’t know the struggles of trying to prove the authenticity of climate change and its consequences, and that green energy will be such an obvious and prevalent form of power that you could never guess that we used to rely on a source of fuel that provided us with power while simultaneously polluting the air we breathe. Which is why in order for this future to become a reality for you, I will make the most of my education and strive for implementing sustainable initiatives in urban environments that combat climate change and bring us a step closer to achieving the stabilization of the earth’s temperature, which is possible through global efforts.

Thank you.