Sophia Stewart-Liberty's Letter

My nephews Harry and Joe, My Godchildren Jake and Cecily,

Harry, Joe, Cecily and Jake,
I am so sorry: we didn't realise.
We didn't realise that endless economic growth is impossible. We didn't know that we shouldn't accrue so much material goods. We had no idea of the harm we would do through desiring travel, through demanding comfort, through thinking we deserve luxury.
We had no idea that human beings weren't more important than other creatures, plants or the earth itself.
We thought that gardening neatly and tidily and watching David Attenborough was all the respect that the natural world needed.
We have made massive and permanently ruinous mistakes. I am so sorry.
We have strayed destructively from the respectful way we should have been existing and are passing you a poison chalice, a damaged world.
Those with power in the world do not yet seem to have twigged, re-election and economic growth seems to be all that moves them.
We will have realised too late, and I fear for myriad species and the future of humanity.
I hope your generation can find a healthier way forward, seek a smaller more humble life, and start righting the wrongs of previous generations.
I wish all this wasn't so and I apologise for the part I played, and the fact I didn't fight more.
Love, Sophia