Letters to Tomorrow

Every year there is a Great Big Green Week in celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature. This year, the ‘Letters to Tomorrow’ project was launched. The Create the Future team took part by writing our own Letters to Tomorrow, sharing our hopes for future generations and our visions for what the world might look like if our leaders and communities of today have stepped up to protect the environment.

Emma’s Letter

Emma is co-founder of Create the Future and leader of our Projects & Partnerships Team. You can see Emma’s letter on the Letters to Tomorrow website here.

To my future children,

Much like the future, you do not yet exist, and instead remain in the mysterious imaginary space of could be and hope. Like the future, I am so afraid for you – for us – but there is still a chance that things will turn out right for you, and I will fight to make that better version if events a reality.

Seven years ago, I was barely out of childhood myself – age 18, finishing school with so much possibility ahead. So many plans I took for granted – simple things, like a stable education, a safe place to live, a house and a garden of my own, a good job and the joy of international travel – now seem to me like incredible luxuries we must be grateful for when faces with the growing threat of water/food shortages, floods, wildfires, displacement, and instability. We were brought up to aspire to such individualistic successes, instead of community wellbeing and the safety of all living beings across the Earth.

However, I do not yet despair, I am reminded of how much has already changed in the last seven years, and how much more they can shift. In another seven years, I hope I am a parent to you, an that I can welcome you to a better world, a brighter future, One where the night light beside your bed is powered by the wind or the sun, your clothes are made sustainably or bought second-hand, our garden is filled with abundant thriving birds and insects and bright flowers, and single-use plastic is almost obsolete. Your bath water is heated by a heat pump, not gas, and out plant-based dinner was cooked on an electric hob. We walk, cycle, or take the bus almost everywhere, and holidays involve long, affordable train journeys to exciting new places.

However, I do not yet despair, I am reminded of how much has already changed in the last seven years, and how much more they can shift. In another seven years, I hope I am a parent to you, an that I can welcome you to a better world, a brighter future, One where the night light beside your bed is powered by the wind or the sun, your clothes are made sustainably or bought second-hand, our garden is filled with abundant thriving birds and insects and bright flowers, and single-use plastic is almost obsolete. Your bath water is heated by a heat pump, not gas, and out plant-based dinner was cooked on an electric hob. We walk, cycle, or take the bus almost everywhere, and holidays involve long, affordable train journeys to exciting new places.

Most of all, I hope you grow up without fear. I hope you do not have to question what the future will hold for you, and your own children. I hope you are free to aspire to more than simple survival. I hope you are happy, and safe, and growing up in a world of community, authenticity, creativity and equality.

All my love,

Your future Mother, Emma

xoxo

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Adam’s Letter

Adam is a Projects Officer at Create the Future. You can see Adam’s letter on the Letters to Tomorrow website here.

Dear Mark,

Look around! Many years have passed since we first came here, to this run-down car park on the edge of the hills. Do you remember how it was back then? The discarded mattresses and shopping trolleys, the stains of petrol on the concrete, the hedges full of plastic, the overgrown pathway which led into the countryside – which no one wanted to take.

“Someone should do something about this,” you said. Yeah, I agreed, of course. “But no one really cares,” I said. It’s a dump, always has been. But you meant it. You wrote to the local council, wrote to the library, wrote to the MP, and got funding for a little workshop which had one purpose – to turn this car park into a place that worked with nature, instead of against it.

Volunteers came and made fences and signs, they laid pathways and removed the rubbish, they opened a little cafe. All it took was one person who saw a problem and set their mind to solving it. Imagine what else we could do.

Best,
Adam

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Jess’ Letter

Jess is the Assistant Creative Editor at Create the Future. You can see Jess’ letter on the Letters to Tomorrow website here.

To Mum & Dad,

I hope you’re sitting somewhere comfortable while reading this. Maybe you’re both outside, breathing in the fresh, clean air. I hope it tastes good. How is the wildflower meadow in the commons? Are there others like it now, in other fields, bringing back some of the wildflower meadows that once covered the Cotswolds? Have you managed to replicate something similar in the field below the house yet? I know we had wild marjoram and the first cowslips only this year, but I hope that 7 years from now it’s flourishing, and that maybe, just maybe, the shocking purple-pink of orchids have started to grace the springtimes. Have you noticed any new butterflies? Please send me photos, I’d love to take a guess at what they are.

What’s the view like today? Are there windmills gently tilting in the distance? The gleam of more solar panels across the valley? Is it hot? Is it wet? I hope that whatever weather the day holds you can face it with enjoyment. I hope that when the rain comes, no matter how heavy, you can lift your face into the droplets with a smile, or that Dad can run around like a mad thing shirtless and whooping in the rain like he sometimes does in the summer. I hope you can feel that joy fully, because you know that no matter how hard it rains the wetlands are managed beautifully and will help absorb what falls, there are the right kinds of trees and plants on the hills to help drink it all up and slow the flow, and that the beavers are knowledgeable little workers who understand how to help the river go where it needs. If it gets hot, I hope you feel prepared, knowing that those extra awnings or shutters were worth the hassle and that the government stepped up and the local community came together to imagine new ways of storing water so you never had to fear it running out.

I hope that you are still adventurous and waste-conscious with your cooking, not having to worry about food shortages because the government finally listened and now the farmland in the area is all beginning to be farmed regeneratively and sustainably, and the farmers are paid well to keep it that way. I hope that your days are filled with work that you love doing. Maybe you’re even getting by without a car, using the regular and cheap buses and trains, after the government hopefully realised that they should stop subsidising airlines and put money into the rail network and electric buses instead. More than anything though, I hope that you’re happy. I know that if you’re happy, my future self will be happy, and that maybe we’re all working together to create the future we want. Maybe I’ll come over for a cup of tea very soon, and we can drink it in the garden, watching the orchids slowly bloom.

With lots of love,
Jessica

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Alicia’s Letter

Alicia is the Engagement Team Lead at Create the Future. You can see Alicia’s letter on the Letters to Tomorrow website here.

Dear Future Self,

I hope you are on the waterfront watching a diverse range of birds dipping in and out of the harbour. Kids hopping in from the pier and making silly faces at one another under the water.

Your bike is tossed on the grass behind you and your friends call to you as the come near and make a joke about how different the water smells now that it’s not the business end of a pulp mill.

How quiet is the boardwalk now that protesters have retired? I hope you and your friends are happy and finding rest after years of work to make your dreams a reality. Knowing you, you’re probably onto a new project, but remember to celebrate how far things have come and use these small wins as fuel for future action.

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Leah’s Letter

Leah is co-founder of Create the Future and leader of our Creative Team. You can see Leah’s letter on the Letters to Tomorrow website here.

Dear whoever may find this letter – it is meant for you,

Once the challenge has been won, it’s easy to forget what it takes to achieve something that changes the future.

In the face of fear, it’s easy (and sometimes possible) to bury your head and distance yourself from the challenge. Climate change however did not allow for this opportunity; it demanded a response. And so, we gave it one.

This drive, this determination and relentless aspiration for hope is why you succeeded, and it is why I am here today, writing you this letter.

I am asking you to please not give up or give in to this challenge, you must be brave, and you must continue to fight because a better future is possible, and all it takes is for you to believe in it and decide to be a positive influence on the world around you. You are what this planet needs to survive, you can help, you just need to keep going.

A better future is possible and getting there starts with you.

Be bold, be brave, be creative and be the change you want to see.

Good luck, we can’t do this without you.

Love,

 A very grateful future friend.

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Aimee’s Letter

Aimee is a Research Officer at Create the Future. You can see Aimee’s letter on the Letters to Tomorrow website here.

Dear future me,

It’s hot today. Almost thirty degrees outside. But you’re lucky, you’re currently sitting in a cool bedroom with regulated air circulation in a small eco-cohousing community in Cambridge. You get to experience the benefits of community living. There’s a shared garden with chickens and always people around to help. Recently, you went fell running in the lake district and got to see views from the top of mountains. You have great friends and a cool job at a conservation non-profit.

It’s easy to forget that it’s hot today, and maybe it shouldn’t be.

The frosted glass on your windows hides the high-rise flats being built that are replacing a meadow. A top-story flat can never replace the view from the top of a mountain, especially one you ran up! I hope you’ve been back to the mountains, or found nature anywhere you can. Cambridge may not have mountains, but it has other green spaces. In the future, I’d like to think that the green spaces around you are nice, with trees and wildflowers. I hope your house will have access to a garden, to parks and to nature and that your windowsill is still full of plants with random names. I have my fingers crossed that Sam the Succulent is still going strong.

If the planet continues to warm, I hope you’ll continue to be involved in helping. Restoration and conservation are fuelled by hope and perseverance. If you can run up mountains, then you can continue to work towards a better future.

From the current Aimee.

P.S. Don’t forget to wear suncream in the heat – you’re so ginger!

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