In 1988, Kurt Vonnegut wrote his famous Letter to the Future and addressed it to Ladies & Gentlemen of A.D. 2088. In it, Vonnegut expressed hope that people of the future would stop “choosing abysmally ignorant optimists for positions of leadership.” But alas! Nearly thirty years after the letter was written, people seem to be exactly the same, yet the situation with climate, pollution, uncontrolled population growth, mass ignorance and aggression has worsened dramatically. It is really time to take action in response to K.Vonnegut’s Letter, because, as funny as it sounds, the future has arrived sooner than anybody could anticipate.

K.Vonnegut’s words sound especially notable today, less than a week before the USA elections – the event which is going to influence the lives of all population of the world.

Kurt Vonnegut suggested a few simple steps to take, but these steps could literally save the world today. The sad thing is that time seems to have accelerated for us: the future has arrived, and if we decide to wait till 2088, there may be no Ladies and Gentlemen to read Vonnegut’s letter than.

Here are a few lines from K.Vonnegut’s letter to the Future:

“The sort of leaders we need now are not those who promise ultimate victory over Nature through perseverance in living as we do right now, but those with the courage and intelligence to present to the world what appears to be Nature’s stern but reasonable surrender terms:

1. Reduce and stabilize your population.

2. Stop poisoning the air, the water, and the topsoil.

3. Stop preparing for war and start dealing with your real problems.

4. Teach your kids, and yourselves, too, while you’re at it, how to inhabit a small planet without helping to kill it.

5. Stop thinking science can fix anything if you give it a trillion dollars.

6. Stop thinking your grandchildren will be OK no matter how wasteful or destructive you may be, since they can go to a nice new planet on a spaceship. That is really mean, and stupid…

7. And so on. Or else.”