"For The Children" by Scott Russell Sanders

What sort of Earth will we leave for future generations? Will there be whales to watch, abundant clean water to drink? Will stars be visible in the night sky? Will it be safe for children to play outside under the sun? Will there be old growth forests, free-flowing rivers, and blooming prairies? Will there be songbirds, salamanders, polar bears, and fireflies? Will the climate be predictable, the air breathable, the oceans teeming with life? In this letter addressed to children of the future, essayist and novelist Scott Russell Sanders conveys his concerns and hopes about the state of the Earth that coming generations will inherit: "I want there to be rivers you can raft down without running into dams, the water pure and filled with the colors of sky. I want you to thrill in spring and fall to the ringing calls of geese and cranes as they fly overhead. I want you to see herds of caribou following the seasons to green pastures, turtles clambering onshore to lay their eggs, alewives and salmon fighting their way upstream to spawn. And I want you to feel in these movements Earth's great age and distances, and to sense how the whole planet is bound together by a single breath." Sanders speaks as a father and grandfather, bearing in mind his own children and grandchildren: "My pleasure from wind and rain, from cloud drift and bird song, from the sound of creeks tossing in their stony beds, from the company of animals and the steady presence of trees, all of that immense delight is doubled when I think of you taking pleasure one day from these same glories." This personal essay is at once a declaration of loving regard for future generations and a call to responsible stewardship for people of our own time: "Thoughts of you make me reflect soberly on how I lead my life. When I spend money, when I turn the key in my car, when I vote or refrain from voting, when I fill my head or belly with whatever's for sale, when I teach students or write books, ripples from my actions spread into the future, and sooner or later they will reach you. The list of wild marvels I would save for you is endless. I want you to feel wonder and gratitude for the glories of Earth. I hope you'll come to feel, as I do, that we're already in paradise, right here and now." Scott Russell Sanders, a Distinguished Professor of English at Indiana University, is the author of twenty books of fiction and nonfiction, including, most recently, A Private History of Awe and A Conservationist Manifesto.