Dear Arabella Rose Kushner, Joseph Frederick Kushner, and Theodore James Kushner,

We hope this letter finds you well. We’re writing today about your grandfather, Donald J. Trump the 45th President of the United States. While we’re sure you’ve learned about your grandfather’s many successes, we thought it was important for you to understand his catastrophic decisions related to climate change that will impact humanity for generations to come.

In 2016, when your grandfather was elected President, the scientific and global community was united in its concern about the grave threat posed by human-caused climate change. To provide context, it’s worth noting that by 2016:

Over 97% of climate scientists agreed that climate change was real and was primarily driven by human CO2 emissions;

Over 190 countries had signed the 2016 “Paris Agreement”, which committed to holding the increase in global temperatures below 2 °C above pre-industrial temperature levels by reducing CO2 emissions output;

Global sea levels had risen by 8 inches over the previous century. The UN predicted that, absent intervention, sea levels would rise another 1–4 feet by 2100 — levels that would devastate low lying and coastal communities;

Researchers projected that, without immediate action, human-caused climate change would cause an estimated 500,000 deaths per year by 2050 — a preventable loss of life that would rival Holocaust proportions;

by 2050 — a preventable loss of life that would rival Holocaust proportions; Global temperatures had risen over 1.1 °C since the late 19th century. Sixteen of the 17 warmest years on record had occurred in the previous 16 years;

President Trump’s Secretary of Defense deemed Climate Change a threat to global and national security;

The United States, with just 4.4% of the world’s population, accounted for over 14% of global CO2 emissions in 2016 and 29% of cumulative emissions to date.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of this urgent problem, not only did your grandfather fail to act to protect the environment, but he actively impeded efforts to do so. Specifically:

He instilled doubt among his supporters, famously claiming that climate change was a hoax invented by the Chinese to reduce American competitiveness;

He reversed key policies of his predecessor that were reducing CO2 emissions — including rolling back fuel efficiency standards and coal standards;

Most alarmingly, he withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement on June 1, 2017 against the wishes of the majority of voters, isolating the United States as just one of 3 countries (the others being Syria and Nicaragua) opposed to the accord. He did so in direct contravention of the will of the people of the United States, over 70% of whom supported our participation in the Agreement.

Many of your grandfather’s policies were controversial, but his policies on climate change were unique in that climate change is not reversible and we were at a critical period where urgent action was required.

You should also know that your grandfather was not alone in this endeavour. Both of your parents, Jared and Ivanka Kushner, supported his campaign for election. While there are reports that your parents lobbied your grandfather to remain in the Paris Agreement, they actively supported his campaign while he promised to “tear up the Paris Agreement” and perpetuated the “Chinese hoax” nonsense. In short, your parents campaigned for a man who arrogantly ignored scientific consensus and cynically perpetuated falsehoods about the most dire global crisis of our lifetime, for his own political gain.

None of this is your fault, but we hope you will understand the tremendous human suffering and irreparable damage to the planet caused by your grandfather’s reckless policies. No doubt your wealth will insulate you from the worst of these impacts, but we would urge you to consider the source of that wealth, and use it to help those who are suffering from the terrible choices made by Donald J. Trump and those who enabled him.

Best Regards,

Anonymous Citizens of the United States of America

June, 2017