It is 2100 and we say to you of the Past
Dear People of 2019,
Thank-you for all you did for us.
We know that you made sacrifices for us.
We appreciate it.
Thank you.
We want you to know that it really made a difference.
Mostly we are grateful that you cared about us when you did not have to.
You could have been like most people – self-absorbed and only caring about having fun today, focussed on yourself and your little personal problems. But you weren’t like that.
You, by your actions, showed that you included us in your circle of what matters: other people, even those not even yet born.
Thank you.
We know it was tough to stop flying.
To not eat red meat. Or palm oil.
To stop using any fossil fuels when the alternatives were so much more expensive. (by the way, wind and solar are REALLY cheap now and nobody would dream of burning fossil fuels – besides – it is illegal)
You did it.
Or at least you did the best you could.
In spite of your best efforts:
- Many Pacific and Caribbean Islands are underwater.
- Tens of millions of climate refugees migrated North
- Millions died of famine and disease
- There is no more snow in the Alps and there are only glaciers near the Poles
- The Arctic ocean is ice free for most of the year
- Hurricanes and Tornadoes are often category 5 and have made “tornado alley” unliveable
- Thousands of species are extinct
- New Orleans, London & many other cities are underwater
- The Great Barrier Reef was officially pronounced “dead” in 2060
I could go on, but the bad news is too depressing, even for us who live and have accepted that is our reality.
Because we know you did your best.
You did, however, stop things from getting worse.
The global average temperature only increased by +3 C – it could have been much worse.
You reduced your energy demand by 80% – well done!
You reduced the birth rate so drastically that our population is “only” 10 billion.
You stopped using toxic chemicals and the destruction of habitat that were making so many species, like the song birds, extinct.
Most species on the brink of extinction are making a comeback.
Thank you.
The last coal plant closed in 2068 – it’s now long been a relic, like the steam engine or telephone box.
Our cars are powered with hydrogen gas, and across the world the air we breathe now is the cleanest it’s been since the industrial revolution.
We have a thriving moon base and even a tentative Martian colony.
But what has changed the most is not our technology.
It is the fact that we no longer see ourselves are individuals separate from each other and other species.
We know that now – because of all the pain, suffering and death we have witnessed has made it clear that every one of us is connected to the other.
Everything we think, feel and do impacts others – human and non-human.
What you thought was a niave notion: “We are 1”, we now know is reality.
All life is one.
When one suffers – we all suffer.
When one laughs – we all laugh along.
So, although we could curse you for all the death you caused, we thank you.
For your best efforts; even though it was really too little, too late to stop all the damage.
But you tried.
So, keep on trying.
Never give up.
You matter.
Every little bit you do today, in 2019, benefits us in 2100.
Thank you.
And, from whichever God you believe in, my you be blessed this Christmas – this time of light at the darkest time of year.
For you are alive at the darkest time in History – when all seemed lost.
But as we all know it is darkest just before the dawn.
We, living in the future you helped created, live in that dawn.
Your near future will be tough.
You may be filled with despair as you see the destruction you have wrought become real.
But do not give up.
We, the future, need you.
You can do it.
You can change the world.
And you did.
We are living proof of that.
You can do it.
We’re all rooting for you.
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