Dear Mr. Prime Minister and all those it may concern,
For the last 49 weeks I’ve been writing you a letter a week about climate change, and I often start my letters introducing myself as Amelia Penney-Crocker, 14 year old writer and climate activist. But (as of the day of writing) that has changed. Happy Birthday to me!
Birthdays are happy times, and I should be happy about turning 15. And I am in one way. But it’s also a reminder of how time is passing.
I’m 15 now and I’ll be 23 when our destruction of the climate becomes irreversible. At 23 I will probably only have been able to vote in one or two federal elections. I might have an undergraduate degree, but hopefully I’ll still have lots of education before me. I will be at the beginning of my life. Many people who judge teenage activists say that we should study climate and become climate scientist, but by the time I’m in my 20s, our planets fate will basically be decided. And I will only have been able to vote a few times to influence who will be deciding that fate.
I’m 15 now and I’ll be 95 in 2100. The 2100s have been called “The Century of Hell,” because of what it will look like without climate justice. When I’m 95, I’ll hope to be preparing to die peacefully surrounded by children and grandchildren, not dead years before because of side effects of bad air quality, not having enough food or being killed in a natural disaster.
I’m 15 now and I’m already thinking of what I’m going to have to do to protect the lives of my children who are not yet born. I’m 15 now and I’m already looking forward at my future with negativity. I’m 15 now and I worry that every year I live if a year closer to destruction. I’m 15 now and I’ll be an adult when all you failed to do comes crashing down on us- on me, on everyone else who is 15. No 15 year old should have to live with that expectation for their future. And I’m very privileged to see this coming and I’m not living it now as so many children around the world are.
My friend wrote in her card to me that she hopes 15 treats me well. I hope it does to. I hope I live my best life now and achieve my dreams before the world becomes a game of survival built by the capitalist greed of past generations.
I hope you have a wonderful day!
Amelia Penney-Crocker