A Letter Written in the Year 2070

I hope by sharing this article can help to raise awareness among us and help to preserve the nature in our daily life. Just do whatever we can... I hope it is not too late!

Tips:
- Don't waste water. Don't take it for granted!
- Don't waste electricity. We support earth hour once in a year, but switching off lights for 1 hour doesn't really make a big difference since 1 year got 8760 hours. Why don't we apply this everyday? Switching off lights and electrical appliances when not in use, it is just so simple thing to do.

################################################################# 中文版本 来自2070年的 一封信让人类警钟长鸣! （全文） 现在是 2070年.50岁的我看起来像85岁.水源污染和饮用水奇缺让我得了肾病.现在我算是社会高龄人士.回忆我5岁的时光,一切都与现在截然不同. 过去公园 里有很多树,每家都有漂亮的花园,我可以畅快地冲凉整整一小时.现在我们用矿油浸湿的毛巾清洁皮肤.过去女人们喜欢展示她们的秀发.现在我们要把头发剃 光,以保持头部清洁而不需水洗.过去我父亲用水龙头的水洗车.现在孩子们不知道水还有这个用途. 我记得过去有很多种警告用语,比如“节约用水”,但是没有人理会.现在所有的河流、水库、湖泊和地下 含水层都无可救药地受到污染或枯竭了.无边的沙漠构成了我们四周的景色.肠胃炎症、皮肤病和尿路感染是导致死亡的主要诱因.工业陷入瘫痪,淡化海水的工厂 是工作岗位的主要来源,工人得到的报酬是饮用水,而非工资. 荒凉的街 道上,抢水案件时有发生.过去专家建议的理想饮用水量是每个人每天8杯水,现在只能喝上半杯.衣服是可丢弃型的.我们还不得不像上个世纪一样使用露天厕 所,因为下水道系统由于缺水已无法使用. 人们相貌丑陋,身体因脱水而生出皱纹.由于没有臭氧层过滤紫外线,皮肤上布满溃疡.干燥的肌肤让年仅20岁的青年看起来足有40岁. 科学家没有解决的办法.无法制造水,氧气也因缺乏树木而减少,这导致新一代人口的智力水平降低.很多人的精子形态发生了改变,导致很多孩子出现残疾、基因 变异或畸形等问题. 政 府甚至对每人每天呼吸的约137立方米的空气收费.缴不起费用的人们被撤离到“通风区”,那里配备了利用太阳能运行的巨星机械肺.虽然质量不好,但是尚可 呼吸.人类的平均年龄是35岁.在一些国家中,仅存的几块植被和河流都由军队严密看守.水变成了珍贵的宝物,胜过黄金和钻石.这里没有树木,一年四季被核 试验和污染彻底打乱了. 当女儿要求我讲故事时,我向她描述森林是多么美丽.我还给她讲雨,讲花,讲在河流和水库中洗澡和钓鱼,还有随心所欲地喝水是多么愉快,以及那时的人们是多 么的健康.她问我:爸爸,水为什么枯竭了?此时,我感到喉咙哽咽. 我确信,不久的将来地球上将不存在生命.我希望能够回到过去,并且让全人类明白这一点......而那时我们尚且能为拯救地球出一把力! ################################################################# English Version A letter written in the year 2070 We are in the Year 2070 I’ve just turned 50 but my appearance is of an 85 year old person. I have serious kidney problems because I drink to little water. I believe that I’ve little time left. Today I’m one of the oldest persons in our society!!

I remember when I was 5 years old. Everything was different. There were many trees in the parks, the houses had nice gardens and I was able to enjoy a bath or take a long shower. Today we use hygienic tissues humidified in mineral oil to clean our skin!

In the past women showed their beautiful hair. Today we have to shave our heads to keep them clean without the use of water. Back then my father washed his car with the water which came out of the water house. Today the children cant believe that water ever was used in such a way.

I remember that there were many Announcements that said: DONT WASTE WATER, Only that nobody cared; everybody thought that water would never finish. Today all the rivers, dams, lakes and other water sources are irreversibly contaminated or used up.

Huge deserts replace the landscape which is all around of us. Gastrointestinal infections, skin diseases and diseases of the urinary evacuation system are the main causes of death.

The industry is paralyzed and unemployment is dramatic. The desalination factories are the main source of employment and they pay you with potable water instead of wage.

The assaults for a can of water are common in the deserted streets. The food is 80% synthetic.

In the past the ideal amount of water as indicated to drink was eight glasses per day for an adult person. Today I only can drink half a glass.

The clothes are wear and tear, which increases the amount of trash; we had to return to old fashioned wells and septic tanks like in the last century because the networks of sewers cannot be used due to the lack of water.

The appearance of the population is horrible; bodies become weak, wrinkled by the dehydration, plenty of sores in the skin by the ultra-violet rays that do not have the ozone layer that filtered them in the atmosphere.

Because of the dryness of the skin a young person of 20 years appears to be 40. The scientists investigate, but there is no possible solution. Water cannot be made; oxygen also is degraded by lack of trees. This degradation of oxygen has diminished the intellectual coefficient of the new generations.

The morphology of sperm of many individuals was altered. As a consequence many children are born with insufficiencies, mutations and deformations.

The government even makes us pay for the air we breathe, 137 m3 per day by adult inhabitant. The people who cannot pay are excluded from the “ventilated zones”, that are equipped with gigantic mechanical lungs that work with solar energy. They are not of good quality, but it is possible to breathe. The average age of humans is 35 years.

In some countries some vegetation spots with their respective river are left and are strongly watched over by the army. The water became a very coveted treasure, more than gold or diamonds.

Here however, there are no trees because it almost never rains, and when a precipitation gets registered, it is of acid rain. The years seasons severely are transformed by atomic testing and from the polluting industries of the 20th century. It was strongly advised then to watch the environment but nobody followed that advice.

When my daughter asks me to tell her how it was when I was young, I describe the beauty of the forests. I speak to her of rain, the flowers, of how pleasant it was to take a bath and be able to fish in the rivers and the lakes, to drink all the water that you wanted. And about how healthy people were then.

She asks me: - Dad! Why isnt there any more water? Thats when I feel this node in my throat grow

I cannot but feel guilty, because I belong to the generation that ended up destroying the environment or simply did not take into account all those many warnings.

Now our children are paying a very high price

Sincerely I believe that life on Earth within very little will no longer be possible because the destruction of the environment arrived at an irreversible point. Oh, how much I would like to return back and to make that all the humanity had understood that… … when still we could have done something to save our planet Earth!