Editor's note: The following is the transcript of the speech that
Severn Suzuki gave to the Plenary Session at the 1992 Earth Summit in
Rio Centro, Brazil. Severn was twelve years old. SASS feels there is
no better example of a young person standing up and speaking on
behalf of something in which they truly believe, for the betterment
of themselves and the world around them.
Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. - The Environmental
Children's Organisation.
We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to
make a difference:
Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all
the money ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you
must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I
am fighting for my future.
Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on
the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.
I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the
world whose cries go unheard.
I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet
because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not
heard.
I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the
ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don't know what
chemicals are in it.
I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a few years
ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals
and plants going exinct every day -- vanishing forever.
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals,
jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterfilies, but now I
wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?
All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have
all the time we want and all the solutions. I'm only a child and I
don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do
you!
* You don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
* You don't know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
* You don't know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
* And you can't bring back forests that once grew where
there is now desert.
If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!
Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people,
organisers, reporters or poiticians - but really you are mothers and
fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles - and all of you are
somebody's child.
I'm only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion
strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same
air, water and soil -- borders and governments will never change that.
I'm only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should
act as one single world towards one single goal.
In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell
the world how I feel.
In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and
throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy.
Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our
wealth, afraid to share.
In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water
and shelter -- we have watches, bicycles, computers and television
sets.
Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time
with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child
told us: "I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the
street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and
affection."
If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to share, why
are we who have everyting still so greedy?
I can't stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a
tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of
those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child
starving in Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar
in India.
I'm only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent
on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful
place this earth would be!
At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world.
You teach us:
* not to fight with others,
* to work things out,
* to respect others,
* to clean up our mess,
* not to hurt other creatures
* to share - not be greedy.
Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?
Do not forget why you're attending these conferences, who you're
doing this for -- we are your own children. You are deciding what
kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort
their children by saying "everyting's going to be alright" , "we're
doing the best we can" and "it's not the end of the world".
But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your
list of priorities? My father always says "You are what you do, not
what you say."
Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say you love
us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words.
Thank you for listening
Severn Cullis-Suzuki has been active in environmental and social
justice work ever since kindergarten. She was twelve years old when
she gave this speech, and she received a standing ovation. Now 23,
Cullis-Suzuki spearheads The SkyFish Project and continues to speak
to schools and corporations, and at many conferences and
international meetings. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
--
Elan Shapiro
Sustainable Tompkins Program Co-Chair
Sustainable Living Associates, Principal
Frog's Way B&B
211 Rachel Carson Way
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-275-0249
"We must be the change we want to see in the world"
Mohandas Gandhi
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