George Kosmopoulos, Socio-Informatician

Future, The Paris Talk weren't it. No leader was humble enough to propose a dream that his citizen would have wished for. So many times, so many humans have learned too much from their painful moments, and became too risk-averse. …Read more

Sen. Lois Wolk, California State Senator from Northern California

Dearest Grands (Avery, Audrey, Grace, Isabel, Layla, Max) and Great-grands, in 2015, the year of the Paris Summit, the effects of climate change on California became unmistakable. Our state endured the fifth year of one of the most severe droughts …Read more

Rich Rusk, Secretary of the Georgia Climate Change Action Coalition

For this American, with rising seas, record droughts and raging fires already upon us, with terrible climate impacts coming even if fossil fuel use ended tomorrow, these are discouraging times. Words of wisdom? Let’s start with an apology—to my own …Read more

Frank Baumgardner, Early California Historian, Author

When I asked once what I could do to help save animals from going extinct, they told me to "just stay away from them." The idea was to just avoid such mammals and other species. No longer is that enough, …Read more

Daniel Wilson, Journalist

Dear Future, I am going to cut right to the chase because I waited until the last second to get this done. Hey, what can I say? I’m a journalist and I’m used to working on deadlines. If that deadline …Read more

Jim Hightower, Author, National Radio Commentator and Public Speaker

Hello? People of the future … Anyone there? It’s your forebears checking in with you from generations ago. We were the stewards of the Earth in 2015—a dicey time for the planet, humankind, and life itself. And … well, how’d …Read more

Sen. Kevin de León, President Pro Tempore of the California State Senate

When the iPhone (remember those?) and its contemporaries first took the world of electronic communication by storm, smartphones were a luxury—only the affluent and tech-savvy could enjoy the convenience these technologies offered. Now, as I write, smartphones are ubiquitous. We …Read more

Tom Hayden, Activist, former legislator from California

Dear Future Generations, At the time I write this, the greatest fissure in global politics is between the affluent white North and the suffering and devastated victims of floods, fires, blazing temperatures, deforestation and war from the Global South. Writ …Read more

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, United States Senator from Nevada

As a young boy growing up in Searchlight, the unique beauty of the Nevada desert was my home. Our family didn’t travel or take vacations, but we were able to visit Fort Piute Springs which was just 15 miles from …Read more

Steven T. Jones, Activist and Former Editor, San Francisco Bay Guardian

Dear Future Descendants, Greetings from the year everything changed, 2015, when we finally started to avert the climate catastrophe that was headed your way. The change began right here in the United States, and it spread around the world with …Read more

Amanda (Retired), Former News & Review Columnist

8/1/23 Dear Great Grandniece Who Probably Won’t Be Named After Me, I knew your great, great, great, grandmother—loved her like the daughter I never had. She was alive, as I was, when President Trump decided midway through his second term …Read more

Jane Smiley, Author, Pulitzer Prize Winner

Dear Great-Great-Granddaughter, Do you remember your grandmother Veronica? I am writing to you on the very day that your grandmother Veronica turned 7 months old—she is my first grandchild, and she is your grandmother. That is how quickly time passes …Read more

Melinda Welsh, Editor

Dear Future Family, I know you’ve heard plenty about what happened in Paris in 2015. But I was alive back then, so I wanted you to hear it from me. First, some history: Somehow, a cloak of denial got dropped, …Read more

Kevin Wolf, Cohousing and Wind Energy Advocate

Dear future generations, I am writing to you at a time of transition. Most of us now understand that pollution from the industrial age, especially from the last 30 years has amassed to a level that global warming, soil loss, …Read more

Brent Bourgeois, Rock Musician, Songwriter and Producer

Dear Future Family, I know that by the time you read this you will have heard about what happened in Paris at the end of 2015. But I was alive then and wanted you to hear about it from me …Read more