Dear Planet Earth,
I’d like to tell you how beautiful and bountiful you are before that’s all gone. And I’d like to say Thank you.
Thank you, water––that liquid that keeps all alive. That liquid that’s refreshing when climate change makes the days hot, that liquid that gives us the fish we use for food, that ingredient that makes life possible. I am sorry that we are clogging and fogging you with plastic and oil, killing ecosystems that we depend on.
Thank you, fish and birds––those animals that fly and swim, those animals that fed us before we knew much else, those animals that have inspired us to go down deep beneath the waves and high into the skies. I am sorry that we are killing you and feeding you deadly things that are not food.
Thank you, trees––those magnificent towers, much more beautiful than any man has made, that reach to the skies, that give us shelter in a storm, that give us forests to explore, that give us houses and fires that keep us warm on the coldest of nights, that give us inspiration for the accomplishments we have made, and that help us undo what we have done by giving back that oxygen that we replace with carbon dioxide. I am sorry we are killing you for our own personal gain.
Thank you, plants––those living things we ate before we left the trees, those things we make into medicine, those things we make into clothing, those things we use to make our gardens, those things that are bravely standing at the bottom of the food chain, those things we need for countless reasons. I am sorry we are killing you and destroying the vast wildernesses that you have created.
Thank you, mammals––those creatures that we love, those creatures that we are, those creatures that run and dig, those creatures that climb and fly, those creatures that swim and leap, those creatures that kill and eat, those creatures that keep us company when no one else will, those creatures that have armor and fur, those creatures that dominate and co-exist, those creatures that live and die. I am sorry we are killing you, selling you, and using you.
Thank you, soil and rock––that keep us standing, that keep us together with the wegiht of gravity, that provide the minerals that help make us possible, that make life possible, that have been smashed, that have been cracked, that have been eroded, that are older than everything. I am sorry we are drilling into you and bombing you so much that it seems we are at war with you.
And thank you, so, so much, for us. I am sorry, so sorry, that we are destroying ourselves.
Earth, I want you to know that you are the most unique planet that ever was. I want you to know that we love you even if it seems we don’t. I am sorry we have bashed, cracked, fracked, polluted, melted, cut, deforested, neglected, used and abused you.
I only hope we can revive you.
With love,
Me