Judith Randall 's Letter

To my children and grandson Rowan ,

Dearest loved ones
I am so sorry for the environmental disasters rapidly unfolding on our beautiful fragile planet. I was born at a time when the world looked full of promise and beauty. Growing up free to roam the beautiful countryside in the 1960s I taught myself about the natural world and it’s many wonders. I have always known that we are part of nature , not separate from nature.
Sadly we have pursued relentless planetary destroying industrial growth with unfettered consumer driven economies that denied the dangers of global heating in pursuit of profit for the few.
Now we have pushed the planetary boundaries too far and can never return to the stable Holocene. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and we are heading dangerously close to an uninhabitable Earth. The ice is melting, the seas are acidified , warming and relentlessly rising. We have triggered abrupt accelerating climate change and the sixth mass extinction. Extreme weather events such as droughts, storms, heatwaves, wildfires ,floods and more are impacting life on Earth in ways not expected for decades in the future.
As methane is emitted from melting permafrost and numerous fossil fuel extraction sites, we are putting your futures on the line. I am so very sorry that we , my generation, did not listen to the scientists and ignored their numerous warnings. That our politicians were swayed by the fossil fuel industry and the billionaires who control right wing media and “ think tanks”.
Homo sapiens evolved as hunter gatherers and we are now full of hubris and behave as Homo Colossus, devouring natural resources far beyond planetary carrying capacity.
I want our civilisation to change for the better. To value and restore nature. To move rapidly away from fossil fuels and to invest in adaptation at the deepest level. To reject unnecessary consumption and to help those most impacted by climate breakdown.
No civilisation lasts for ever. Perhaps a new kinder civilisation might arise but I fear there will be even more be pain and suffering along the way.
With all my love
Judith Mary Hanslip Randall
September 2022