To Baby Lilly Grace-What does the Future Hold for you?

To my Great-Granddaughter, Lilly Grace:

On Friday, your family waited eight hours at the hospital for your arrival.  We were all super excited to meet you. Your birth would bring us all a new life experience.  Your father, my grandson, would be a Dad for the first time.  Your Dad’s parents would be grandparents for the first time. Your Dad’s other children would be an aunt and uncle for the first time.  And the Grandparents would be great-grandparents for the first time.  Texts were flying back and forth between the birthing room and the waiting room.  All day we watched as other families received the news of the birth of the addition to their family.  They were mostly nonchalant when told of the birth.  Not your family!  When we got the text “We have a baby,” the room erupted into shouts of joy, thunderous applause, and hugs.

When I held you, my emotions got the best of me.  You were so tiny, so beautiful, and so innocent.  Then my happiest moment was marred by the thought, “What will this country be like in your lifetime?” Unlike the birth of my grandchildren, I felt fear for you, my great-grandchild.

During my lifetime, I have seen many changes in our climate, but during the last few years, change is coming at warp speed.  I feel we have failed you, my sweet great-grandchild, and all the other babies being born, by not protecting our planet from the ultimate disastrous effects of climate change.  And Lilly Grace, I pray for your children who will most assuredly be faced with famine, extreme fires, entire nations and states disappearing under the rising sea levels, fish shortages, and entire extinction of some plants and animals. 

You see, Lilly Grace, life as we know it now will cease when the temperatures rise 2.0 degrees Celsius. Last week the United Nations released their panel’s report on Climate Change.  This report was prepared by thousands of experts all over the world.  They report that temperatures will rise 1.5 degrees sometime between 2030 and 2050.  The report went on to say that if the burning of fossil fuels is not stopped completely by 2020, there will not be a strong chance of avoiding the severity of climate change.

We now have a President that should be leading us to do the things to prevent more climate change.  Instead, he withdrew from an agreement to work with the rest of the world to combat climate change—Paris Climate Accord.  However, this President does not want to join the fight.  It’s all about money that is generated by oil and coal.  I know you’re thinking that money is not worth losing a planet and its people over.  I agree, but have spent a life-time seeing the affects of men and greed so I’m not surprised.

We’ve been warned for many years about climate change.  We’ve had years to stop it. The biggest obstacle to action has been public opinion.  Most Americans believe that climate change, if it happens, won’t happen in their lifetime so they don’t care. The saddest part is they aren’t thinking of future generations and are being selfish.

The President calls climate change a “hoax” and his followers believe him.  The President says wind farms are ugly.  The President has removed information about “climate change” and “global warming” from the White House website. This President has removed many regulations from industries and corporations that could decrease greenhouse emissions and give your generation a few more years before devastation begins.

You should know, Lilly Grace, there’s a great partisan divide over the climate change issue. A recent poll shows that 91% of Democrats worry a great deal about climate change, in contrast to only 33% of Republicans. We have an important election coming up next month, called the mid-terms.  That is when we elect the politicians who make laws the citizens want.  This is the most pivotal election of my lifetime and for the future of our country and planet.  If Democrats do not take control of the legislature in these mid-terms, we lose our best chance of implementing important programs by 2020 which is the projected deadline by the scientists.  And, if this President is re-elected in 2020, I grieve for what is in store for you and those that come after.

Love, (insert whatever you decided to call me)