To my grand daughter
Dear Felicity
You are 25 now and have grown up through difficult
times with more still to come.
But I’m happy that now there are less wars and nuclear weapons,
and that the climate is healing.
Bon courage!
To Marialosa Tapeuluela
The winds have shifted and the tide has taken the old
sense of isolation out and brought in a new sense of eco-
empowerment and cascading mutual aid. Though we
are till far from world peace, we are presenting an united
front of love, embrace, and ambition. With practice of fe’ unu
and the embrace of fala, may we make our planet safe
and may we call it home for all.
From Emmeline Caplan
Environmental Studies student at the University of Toronto
To Siobhan
2035
I have been serving on our city
council these last 6 years. I’m happy to
say we are beginning to see the interconnections
between our challenges
of homelessness, safety, and food security.
We are even having productive
Conversations between various heads
Of government to find shared solutions
And priorities, and act on these.
Dear Residents of Old Earth
I remember where you stand.
Precarious and unsure.
I will not lie and say that we have regained paradise.
But the paradigm has shifted. I used to be frightened of collapse,
but now I embrace it like an old friend.
Another oil rig fell into the Arctic Sea, that’s 3 this month.
As I harvest tomatoes from an urban garden, I watch a mass of Kudzu
engulfing an abandoned condo.
So residents of Old Earth, I ask you to remember,
that some endings are blessed,
and to not be afraid of decay.