If I Lived a Hundred Years

Shafeeka Hafeez
4 min readNov 19, 2019

I Would Wish I didn’t

I will be turning 100 in 2096. That’s 77 years from now.

In 2096, our planet would still be a sphere, as blue as ever.

But everything on it would have changed. Including myself — with little to no hair, wrinkled skin, and a dozen of grandkids flocking at my feet.

While the mental image of little versions of my children is welcoming, there would be one universal change none of us welcomes — but eventually learn to live with. That change would (obviously) be none other than the massive and dramatic blow to our planet’s climate.

If I lived a hundred years, I would witness what is forced upon the younger generations by the leaders of today. I would witness the aftermath of a complete violation of inter-generational justice.

My children and grandchildren will be forced to make drastic lifestyle changes — because we’ve consumed their resources already, for our lavish way of life.

When I’m 100, the planet would have heated by an equivalent of 11 billion atomic bombs.

Atomic bombing of Nagasaki 1945 (Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)

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Shafeeka Hafeez

I write about startups building a more sustainable world | #SolveDifferent