Dear Children of the Future:
I write to you now, as I smell the smoke in the air from the raging wildfires, presumably caused by a still-lit cigarette or a careless campfire, burning away the mountains above us. Today, DEHEC issued an air quality alert for most of the state, and as I contemplate the quality of the air I am breathing, I wonder about the quality of yours.
Today, Americans make up less than five percent of the earth’s population, and yet we consume over 30 percent of its resources. Nearly 70 percent of our trash is thrown into a landfill rather than recycled; this is the highest percentile among developed countries. There is a Cree Native American proverb that says, “Only when the last tree has died, the last river been poisoned, and the last fish been caught, will we realize that we cannot eat money.” Yet, here we are still, trying to eat money, and trying to drink oil. Here we are allowing pipelines to run through rivers, and burying our trash inside the ground. Here we are electing representatives to our governments that deny climate change and support the fossil fuel industries. This is unacceptable, and I am so sorry.
Children, you who will inherit this once perfect planet, this planet which we have so perfectly destroyed, I am sorry. I am so very sorry that we have normalized the destruction of your forests, the contamination of your water, and the pollution of your air. I’m sorry that we can’t undo all of the damage that we have already done. I’m sorry that we can’t seem to love this planet as much as we love the gods that we believe to have created it. I’m sorry that we take, and take, and take, never once stopping to give back. I’m so sorry that we have broken down and sold your planet, and I’m sorry that we haven’t worked hard enough to save it from ourselves.
I’m sorry that “sorry” will never be enough. We are all complicit in the destruction of your planet. It is us, your ancestors who have sworn to love and protect you. Yet, it is us who have ultimately stolen your future. Us, who have been so busy caring about ourselves that we forgot to care about you. You, who may now never even exist, because of us.
I hope that one day soon, we can collectively stop being so, so sorry, because we really have no excuse. We could power this whole planet with only the wind and the sun. We have created so many ways to be sustainable. We have to reduce our waste, reuse what we can, and recycle what we must, because our poor choices have the greatest impact on your future.
We all have a choice to make now, to continue in our destructive ways, or to change our habits, and fight for you and your future.
I desperately hope that we choose you.
