The writer is a 50-year-old man living in 2070 who is one of the oldest people remaining due to severe water shortages and pollution. He recalls the beauty and abundance of nature from his childhood in contrast to the current barren landscape. Water has become extremely scarce and valuable due to environmental destruction over the past decades despite warnings. The writer feels guilty for belonging to the generation responsible for the damage, and believes life on Earth may soon be impossible due to passing the point of no return on environmental issues.

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2. We are in the year 2070. I just turned 50 years old, but I look 85. I experience major kidney problems, because I drink very little water. I think that I don’t have much more time to live. Today, I am the oldest person living in this society.

3. I remember, when I was 5 years old There were lots of trees in the parks, houses had beautiful gardens, and I could enjoy long baths and stay in the shower for one whole hour. everything was very different. Now, we have to clean ourselves by using disposable towelettes moisturized with mineral oil.

4. Before, women were proud of their beautiful hair. Before, my father used to wash his car with water that came out of a hose. Today, children find it hard to believe that one ever could use water to perfom such a task. Now, we have to shave our head to keep it clean without using water.

5. I remember the many warnings: ”DON’T WASTE WATER” But nobody paid attention. People assumed that water was unlimited. Today, rivers, dams, lagoons, and under-ground water are all either irremediably polluted or completely dried up.

6. The landscape that surrounds us has turned into nothing more than an immense desert. Gastro-intestinal infections, and skin and urinary tract diseases have now become the main causes of death.

7. Industry is paralysed, and the jobless rate reached a dramatic level. Desalination plants are the main employers. They give one drinking water instead of a salary.

8. People are constantly being mugged for water on the deserted streets. 80% of the food is synthetic.

9. Some countries succeeded in preserving a few islands of vegetation with their own streams. These areas are closely monitored by the army. Water has become a rare commodity, a highly sought after treasure, infinitely more valuable than gold or diamonds.

10. Here, though, there are no more trees because it hardly ever rains. And whenever it does rain, it is acid rain that comes down. There are no more seasons. Climatic changes such as the greenhouse effect and the polluting activities we indulged in during the twentieth century took care of that. We were warned about the need to take care of our environment, but nobody bothered.

11. When my daughter asks me to tell her how it was when I was young, I describe the beauty of the forests. I tell her about the rain, about the flowers, about how pleasurable it was to bathe, to fish in the rivers and the lakes, and being able to drink as much water as one desired. I tell her about how healthy people used to be.

12. She asks me: I feel a lump in my throat... - Daddy! Why is there no water anymore ?

13. I can’t help feeling guilty, because I belong to the generation that completed the destruction of our environment by simply not taking seriously any of the warnings ... and there were so many of them! I belong to the last generation who could have made a difference, but who chose not to act.

14. Today, our children pay the hefty price.

15. Quite frankly, I think that, within short, life on this Earth will no longer be possible, because the destruction of our environment reached its point of no return.

16. How I wish I could go back in time and get the Human race to understand this ... ... at a time when it was still possible for us to do something to save our planet Earth!