Letter to my future grandchild on climate change
JESSICA CHONG, GRADE 12
To my Grandchild, You haven’t been born yet, but the reason this letter is being written is to tell you about a time when I was just 17 years old. Canada was celebrating its 150th birthday, Justin Trudeau was the Prime Minister, and sadly, the world was falling apart at the seams. The generations before you and I were nearly unaware of the truly damaging effect that the industrial revolution had on the environment. In 2017, people were working their hardest to fix the nearly irreparable damage that human beings have had on the earth in our time here.
Shortly into 2018, Justin Trudeau and his government launched the “Polar Bear Project.” Despite the name, this project had little to do with polar bears yet, if the project succeeded, eventually the threat of polar bears extinction would be less significant. The name sounded catchy and pulled the country into his plan. The first step was to get people more educated. Back in those days, few people were as educated as they needed to be if there was to be a change in the world. We consumed animal products like there was no tomorrow, we drove our gas powered cars down the road to the grocery store out of laziness, we cut down trees to get paper that was often wasted. We were destroying out planet, little by little. The Polar Bear Project opened the nation’s eyes to what they were doing by implementing mandatory education in every school and workplace in the country. Education that mattered and was appealing to all audiences.
Miraculously, the Polar Bear Project worked and ten years later, I was the proud owner of an electric car and gas cars were so uncommon they were being discontinued within the next couple of years. You and your friends will spend your summers at the local beach, however, when I was 17, the water was so toxic you weren’t able to swim in it. The Polar Bear Project got everyone educated and motivated to dedicate the time and money to clean up our great lakes. You don’t know this, because you weren’t alive, but 50 years ago, in 2017, the world was slowly unravelling, but the Polar Bear project stitched us back together.
Today, in 2067, shortly before you are supposed to be born, we are celebrating Canada’s 200th birthday. Yet it is the 50th anniversary of a country that helped pull the world away from global warming. I am writing this letter to you to tell you of your generation’s obligation to your country, to your future. Healing the earth from hundreds of years of damage does not happen in fifty years and still, not everyone is aware of the damage that cutting down trees and using gas powered cars has on the earth. Many still find it more convenient to use a plastic water bottle instead of the government issued reusable ones. You and your peers have a lot of work to do, but our world is on the mend. In honour of Canada’s 200th birthday, a bill has been passed to make plastic water bottles and cutting down trees illegal. The tree planting and bicycle industries are booming, and the entire country is involved in renovating our country. In only 50 years, we have inspired other countries to get involved as well, something that was once considered impossible. All of the countries that are a part of the UN are also a part of the climate change movement that has become global. The Polar Bear Project is an internationally known term, and billions of people are finally not ashamed of the earth that we live on. The Project has not only brought harmony to the earth, but also has helped many realize that we all share the same world and in order to help save it, we must also have peace. It is not perfect, yet the war and violence and chaos that ensued long before you were born have nearly come to an end, thanks to the Polar Bear Project. We have united the nations.
For the past 50 years, we are finally working in harmony towards one goal, a goal that when I was your age, seemed unattainable. We know now, that this is not a false hope, nor a wasted dream, we can do it, we can save the planet that we call home, and will need to call home for the rest of our lives. I hope by the time you are seventeen, all of the landfills will be empty, and filled with trees and flowers like it was meant to be. I hope that every single one of your peers appreciates and values the planet we are blessed to call home, and I hope that your generation will continue to protect our beautiful planet. I am writing this letter so that you understand the crucial role that you must take a part of in order to save our earth. Global warming and climate change is a thing of the past, and you are the future.
I look forward to meeting you.