To my sons,

Dear Sam and Ben,

I am writing to you in 2018 and plan for you to get this in 2050. I am supposed to share my thoughts about climate change and my promise to take action.

I think climate change is already happening and much of it is irreversible. Even if we do everything right now, you’ll still have consequences in 2050 that are the result of our world putting off action for the past 10, 20, 30 years. I feel sorry for what I’ve contributed to climate change thus far because I know you will pay for it. You will be living with flooding coastlines, more tropical diseases, massive migrations of people from countries that are no longer inhabitable.

It is so hard for people to change their usual way of doing things. People only get motivated to change after something really bad happens. We are starting to get more and more extreme weather events in the USA now. Scientists are saying that these are more frequent and more intense because of human-caused climate change. I understand a little bit about the science from having attended talks and doing some reading.

I’ve been trying to have a low carbon footprint personally. I don’t travel much even though my peers do. I will reduce the plastic we use and the waste we produce in our household –  I’ll also start exclusively shopping for items that are ecologically produced and packaged. I’ve attended Climate Reality Leadership training, written many letters to politicians and corporations, and tried to educate my community about the issues. I’m voting with climate change as a top priority. I’ve tried to teach you boys that we need to clean up after ourselves and take care of the earth. I promise to continue doing these actions and more, for your sake.

Love, Mom