“What lies ahead? Reimagining the world! Only that.” – Arundhati Roy –

Dear Grandma

It is hard to believe, but today is my fortieth birthday. It is 2050 – halfway through the century. I remember you always told me that we would know in 2050 if we were succeeding in our fight against climate change. I am sure that as children we thought you were a bit obsessive about the world’s problems. However we certainly understand now what you were talking about and why it was so important to you.

I wish you were here to see what we have managed to achieve in this world. It feels miraculous, but of course it’s not. It is the result of a long, hard fight to help people to understand that they could make a better life for themselves and their children. In fact, for many including me, it was a hard decision to even go ahead and have children. Harry and I eventually decided that we would have a family the year they banned the use of plastics. It seemed a good omen. We now have two amazing little girls that delight us on a daily basis. They keep us focussed on the future.

We moved into a new house in a small community a year or so ago. It is amazing and I know you would have loved it. It is small, with a biggish garden where we grow almost all of our own fruit and vegetables. For those we can’t grow we have set up a community exchange which works well for everybody. Sometimes we also buy from the local organic farmer. I wish you could see the farms these days!

The farmers have replanted the hedgerows, and the government has been giving them grants to help wildlife and to find new ways to protect the soil and to allow it to flourish.

The wildflower borders are teeming with bees and butterflies, and the multitude of colours shimmers in the heat. Since the world stopped using fossil fuels they have had to find new ways to fertilise the land and almost everything is organic these days.

Grandma, you would love the tomatoes, they taste amazing! I remember the ones you and grandpa had in your garden, and they taste just the same, full of flavour. The neighbours compete now for the best homegrown vegetables.

The house is much cheaper to run and so much easier to keep clean. We don’t need heating as it is so well insulated, but we have a heat pump for the summer for air conditioning when it is very hot, as it continues to be.

I love living in a community: we get together often to talk about local problems and how we can improve things. It’s magic how everybody has different skills that are useful. But it is also great that they are finding ways to work together in the towns too. For the last twenty years or so local governments have been building people-friendly towns with small groups of houses connected by paths for humans and bicycles. There are lots of cafes and trees for shade and people often stop to talk to their neighbours. I think in your time they called them fifteen-minute cities. People were quite rude about them thirty years ago because they couldn’t use their cars as much as before.

That is another fantastic thing they have done. There are no cars allowed in town centres nowadays, only electric buses. So the air is clean and people have fewer problems with asthma and bronchitis. They say they have cut deaths from these diseases by two thirds worldwide. Even my hay fever, which I think I inherited from you, is so much better now. Public transport is all electric and they are working hard at making it more available and reliable.

Education in Developing Countries

Perhaps though, the most incredible thing that has happened is that people seem to care more about each other. There were terrible floods in Europe followed by really bad fires in California in the late-2020s and somehow we just got the message. We have to help other countries to fight climate change. If we didn’t work with them to adapt to the changing weather and the heat, then it would just have got worse for all of us. Not only that but we would never have peace.

So people came out onto the streets all over the world to force their governments to change. They wanted to stop subsidising fossil fuels and to find money to help poorer countries adapt. We found money to fund women’s empowerment and education, and to help those in extreme poverty help themselves. The fossil fuels just faded away through lack of support and the wonders of solar panels and windfarms.

So I think you were right about the year. We feel that although things are not perfect, we are beginning to get on top of some of the major problems facing humanity. We have almost arrived at the much-discussed net zero and they do say that at the very least temperatures will start to stabilize (although obviously other effects of global warming will carry on). Peace continues to be elusive but slowly we are beginning to trust each other more. With the help given to developing countries they are beginning to adapt to the problems and create a liveable life. More and more people are staying at home rather than becoming refugees.

The weather is still horribly hot and unpredictable, but I think we understand why now and instead of blaming others or simply not caring, we can act.

Sea level rise is going to be a major problem but it feels that we will cope with that as we have learned to deal with other challenging issues.

I feel happy Grandma, in this life. I know you and many other people throughout the world suffered from loneliness and isolation. It is just not like that now in our communities. We support each other. We have fewer things than before, but more people seem happy. I know we have a long way to go yet and a lot to do, but if we all put our shoulders to the wheel things can get much better yet.

Your loving granddaughter

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Photos by Jeremiah Lawrence, Lucie Douezi and Doug Linstedt on Unsplash