SUE CHARLTON's Letter

To Rory and Rose, my grandchildren,

Do you remember the toy gorilla we gave you Rory, and the pictures of Ihoho the young mountain gorilla? And Rose, do you remember the toy snow leopard we gave you, when we 'adopted' a snow leopard for you and sent you pictures from WWF? You both heard about our amazing journey to forests in Uganda to see mountain gorillas a few years ago. We talked too of adventures in Bhutan before you were born, when we bumped into a WWF officer way up in the Himalayas working with local villagers in trying to find ways that would help them respect the big cats, but also protect their animals from them.
However, climate change and the loss of forests and frozen mountainsides is making it so challenging for both people and such wonderful animals. Trees are being lost to fire or clearance. Glaciers and snow are melting into the seas.
I'm so sorry that people have caused so much damage and destruction to all that live on this planet. We believe that God created a wonderful orchestra of every sort of living thing - plants, insects, sea life, and all that lives on, in and over land - from microscopic creatures to people, gorillas and snow leopards.
Each and everyone of these beings depend on others for habitat and food, but humans have for too long misunderstood the loss we've caused by burning carbon, eating unsustainably, and wanting more than we need. Forgive us old people, and learn from our mistakes.
Take heart and be confident that together change will happen, if we work hard NOW to change our ways.
Very much love from Granny XX