Dear Children of Mother Earth:

I don’t have much time left on this planet. It is 2088, and I just had my 100^th birthday last month. As I sit here at home, in my tiny cob house, knitting a sweater
for my newborn great-granddaughter, I remembered participating in a
life-changing (and world-changing!) game on the internet way back in 2010. It
was called Evoke. I was in the first cohort of its Agents. I was so young, so
naïve then. Oh, the things I have learned since that time! The things I have seen! And
how amazing is it to think that my great-granddaughter, this tiny baby, will
someday be 100 years old. What
things will she be able to tell the world?

It is sad to know that with all the people in this world, all this combined knowledge, experience, and brain power, much indigenous knowledge is still lost today. I don’t
think it is possible to doc**ent everything we know (maybe someday it will
be?). So I wanted to ensure that my wisdom, my legacies are left behind for my
family and for future generations to use. Much more of what I know can be found
in my book which was recently published- an autobiography of my life. But I
won’t get into that now. I want to share with you, some of the most important
things I know.

I am sorry to say that I have seen wars over water. I have seen famine and drought and the effects of global climate change. I was part of the generation who was supposed to
‘stop global warming’- but we failed. We failed miserably. But how could we
not?! Nobody would listen to us or make proper decisions in countries around the
world. You can read for yourself the history of what happened in the last
seventy years.

But the wisdom I want to share with you is this: learn to understand your food and water ecosystems. Even now, when I am 100 years old, scientists have still not come up
with any ‘magical pill’ that you take each day to help you get all of your
required nutrients. We still must eat and drink every single day. We still get sick.
We still get injured. This is the human condition, and I doubt it will ever
change. When I began
getting interested about food security in my 20’s, I had no idea it would stay
with me for this long. This is still the most important issue to me- and now to
the world.

Things are getting better than they were back then. In some countries, like here in Canada, people have reverted to ‘indigenous living’ where we live off the land as best we can. Sure, we still
employ some modern luxuries, but we do it in the most sustainable way possible,
and use only renewable resources as energy. I built my cob house with my
husband over 30 years ago, with our bare hands, and it is still around- even though he is not. We
used entirely local materials, recycled wherever possible, and worked with the
first nations tribes of the area getting their input where we needed it. I have
an extensive garden (which I still tend, despite my old age!) which grows
mostly vegetables and herbs. I indulge my spiritual side for at least an hour each day by going out into the nature and giving my appreciation of it.

I am, like everyone in my community, part of an organization that works together to ensure that everyone has access to the basic necessities of life. For instance, we share a
herd of dairy cattle for our milk supply, one of us manages an apiary where we
get honey for sweetner, another few of us are in charge of the drinking water
supply and sanitation sector- and we are all vegetarians, and have been for the
last 25 years.

We all have our specialties. That’s what community is about: working together, supplying those things which you are good at and trading for
something else. In my particular community we have ceased reliance on the
outside economy. Our livelihoods revolve around living together in peace and
harmony, and controlling our population to a manageable size for the amount of land
and resources we have.

So that’s what I want to pass on to you before I leave. That’s what I want my great-grandchildren to know. The power of community- especially in providing
food security for its inhabitants. I hope that future generations around the
world continue to follow our example of living sustainably and in harmony with
one another. I also hope that the children of our future pay attention to their
elders’ wisdom- and learn from our mistakes. In this way, we will achieve
global peace and acceptance.

Sincerely,

-Ma (Agent) Reese