Dave Locke's Letter

To my Granddaughters Rose and Holly,

I am so sorry that you are now living in a very different world. The fact that 100's of millions of people are no longer able to survive in their homelands means that they will need to share the habitable regions with you. The climate that nourished us as you were growing up will now be punishing you with extreme events that are continuously affecting your lives and activities. I am hoping you can still remember the swims in the River Wye with the chances of a Kingfisher's flash of electric blue and the ever present trout, ducks, geese and buzzards. Some of them will have survived the pollution I guess, but they will be hiding from the nets of hungry humans and the next flash flood. You should also remember the holidays we had in remote cottages in North Wales and Scotland and the occasional foreign trips to swim in the warmer seas. With a U.K. population of 150 million people, increased by climate and war refugees, there are few remote areas left and I guess getting enough food will be a real challenge.
Your Nan and I really tried to ensure that the global warming was contained, we had PV panels a heat pump and the first electric vehicle in the street. We did not fly anywhere and tried very hard to convince others to do the same, but we were not very successful at that and our efforts seem trivial now. I emailed my MP regularly, but like so many others she was only concerned with her lifestyle and not even her own Grandchildren's future. Great Britain could have had a big impact on the world and our politicians could have saved you and the whole world from your frugal existence. You could have been living in Green and Bio-diverse land if they had been a force for positive action in the world, instead of their business as usual approach. We all knew exactly what was coming, but I am afraid most people did very little with small gestures and blamed everyone else. None of us realized that the ocean warming would trigger all of the ice shelves to melt at once and raise the sea levels so fast, causing such chaos, further tipping points and temperature shifts all within 5 years of COP 26.
Human beings can be very blinkered and stupid I am afraid, even Grandparents who really should have known better.
Take care and enjoy the trees we planted that managed to survived the 2028 Tornado's and the 2029 Hurricane.