Antoinette's Letter

To our girls,

Dear girls,

What a mess we have made. Us, your parents, and generations before us have near enough destroyed your future and the future of your children. We did our best. We showed you how to respect life around you and we lived organically, consciously and carefully. But it may not have been enough. Not everybody feels the same way, cares the same way. We have become a selfish people. And those who do care, the indigenous people, with their infinite wisdom, have not been listened to. We only think about today and not about your tomorrow. The earth is in pain. She is suffering at our hands. She cannot help but be angry, sending raging storms and huge floods, unable to quench the land, instead turning it into infernos and desserts.

There isn't much time left to get this right. We all need to change our ways. To lessen our impact on the world. To learn from the past and to accelerate the changes we so desperately need. Clean, renewable energy, food produced locally, reducing waste (all waste; how much does anyone really need!), cleaning up the mess we have already made (and stop making more!). We need to think about how we travel, and how much of it is really needed. We need to be aware of what we wear (and how much of it is really needed!) and who has been involved in making it. And above all we need to be fully aware of all the consequences of our actions and purchases, our choices and our desires. And then do something about them, so that the whole planet becomes a better world.

I hope that your children, and your children's children will still be able to smell the flowers, to hear the bees in the hollow trees, to marvel at the creepy crawlers and to have butterflies land on their noses. I hope that the world will be green everywhere and that animals and people will live in harmony. That we have learned to respect every creature, every atom of this beautiful earth. That the earth no longer cries, but instead provides every living being with what it needs. Clean air, fresh water, nourishment and healing. And above all a peaceful place to share.

May your lives be happy, content and shared with others and the world around you. May you feel a deep respect for life itself in all its forms. And may you continue to walk this unique and wonderful Planet Earth.

Mama

PS, to Liz Truss I would like to say: watch Big Oil v the World. Part 3 will do!