Fiona's Letter

To future generations,

We have just witnessed the devastation caused by Hurricane Fiona - I could have wished to have a new species named after me instead - and it is heart breaking that extreme nature events are getting more frequent, the consequences felt all over the World. What are we doing about it? Not enough. We continue to be driven by the need for more and more stuff without regard for the impact. I saw an advert on TV yesterday for a toy company and everything was made of plastic, and I don't expect much of it will be played with for long before being discarded.
While we all do our bit - and many individuals and organisations are doing a great deal - I fear for the future when our leaders seem hell bent on destroying forest and ancient woodland, extracting more and more fossil fuels, and resisting calls for stronger environmental legislation.
My wish for the future is that everyone values nature and works actively and collaboratively to balance the needs of the population while protecting and improving the environment we live in. There are inspiring examples where this is happening but small scale and always battling against pressures from others. Will we see powerful leaders being bold now to reverse the damage being done and thinking long term not just about their political careers? I do hope so or I may be writing this to future generations who don't exist.